Global investigators to converge on University

Over 130 police officers and trainers, academics and students will converge on the University to take part in an international investigative interviewing conference.

The delegates will be attending the second International Investigative Interviewing Research Group’s (iIIRG) annual conference from Tuesday 14 April to Thursday 16 April.

‘Putting Theory into Practice: The Dilemmas of Law and Psychology.’ will be attended by delegates from across the UK and a range of global locations, including the USA, Australia, South Korea, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Canada and Japan.

Teesside played a major part Teesside played a major part in the formation of iIIRG, which brings together academics and practitioners who wish to study and carry out research into investigative interviewing of victims, witnesses and crime suspects.

It was set up in 2007 by Gavin Oxburgh, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at the University, and Trond Myklebust, Detective Chief Superintendant and Academic Researcher from the Norwegian Police University College in Oslo.

Research areas include interviewing sex offenders, terrorists, violent offenders, vulnerable and intimidated witnesses and victims of crime.

Gavin Oxburgh worked for the Royal Air Force Police for 22 years before joining the University. He said: 'The interview is one of the most important aspects of any investigation. The whole investigation can fall down at this point, that’s why we’ve got to get the process right.

'We will share good practice in a truly global conference. We have representatives from the Norwegian Police University College, the Swedish National Police academy, a Professor from the Netherlands, delegates from the Home Office’s Serious Crime Analysis section, and various police forces across the UK, including the British Transport Police. It’s the first time we’ve held the conference on Teesside and we’re looking forward to some stimulating speeches and debates.'

Subjects to be explored include:

• detecting deception: pitfalls and opportunities
• sweet interrogations: the role of interrogations in complicated police investigations
• interviewing suspected offenders in the UK: fiction, facts and future directions.

The conference ends with a Masterclass in Forensic Linguistics run by three iIIRG members and renowned forensic linguists from Aston University’s Centre for Forensic Linguistics. The iIIRG signed a formal agreement with the Centre last year.

In the area of investigative interviewing, Aston’s Centre explores language within interviews, examining how police use different question types and also how a witness narrative can be built through this process. The Centre also investigates the effects interpreters have on witness and suspect interviews and run short courses for police and other practitioners in managing interpreted interviews.

---