Discussion continues to grow among law enforcement organizations concerning how officers receive treatment different from other citizens after encounters involving physical resistance or force. Despite interrogating civilians soon after violent incidents, agencies increasingly advocate and defend a “cooling off” period to precede interrogations of their own personnel, believing that more accurate statements will result.
Law enforcement policy makers base their support of these delayed interrogations on research concluding that the psychological trauma of critical incidents may create perception and memory distortions and, thus, result in statements that could inadvertently contradict other investigatory evidence.[1] These important findings seem consistent with other research indicating that officers experience such effects during events involving the use of force.[2] Drawing from these conclusions, experts have suggested delaying interviews of police personnel for a few hours to several days after a critical incident to enhance investigators’ memory and produce more accurate statements.
This differs from the practice of immediately questioning civilians. According to conventional wisdom, interviewing or interrogating soon after events produces the most accurate and truthful statements and minimizes the opportunity to fabricate a story. To this end, despite the outcry to delay interviews or interrogations of officers, no similar push exists for other persons, regardless of the research indicating potential perception or memory distortions.
The authors present a review of research suggesting that delaying interviews or interrogations of officers after critical incidents may lead to more accurate statements. Further, they examine the equally important issue—whether law enforcement personnel enjoy special status due to their unique position and responsibilities—possibly overlooked by researchers. If appropriate, a delayed interview or interrogation must serve the best interest of the truth, as well as the community.
Read more of this article and others at http://leb.fbi.gov/2013/september/criminal-interrogations-of-police-officers-after-use-of-force-incidents
