Interrogations-and-Confessions-Handbook

CHAPTER 2
Interrogation in Britain
In Chapter 1 the focus was primarily on American interrogation manuals. In
contrast to North America, where many interrogation manuals and training
courses have been available for several decades, until the early 1990s there
was no national training in interrogation being offered to British police officers.
Indeed, 20 years ago in their review of current practice for the Royal
Commission on Criminal Procedure (1981), Irving and Hilgendorf (1980) cite
evidence from the Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and
Northern Ireland that
. . . police officers receive no formal training in the art of interrogation. They are
given some advice, in addition to instruction on the law, at training school and by
colleagues but by and large skills develop through experience (Irving & Hilgendorf,
1980, p. 52).
Irving and Hilgendorf also commented on the absence of published research
on police interrogation in England and Wales. However, following their review
there have been several major research projects carried out in Britain into interrogation
techniques. First, Irving (1980) looked closely at the current practice
of interrogation at one police station in England. This study has been replicated
twice (Irving & McKenzie, 1989). Second, Softley (1980) carried out an
observational study in four English police stations. Third, Walsh (1982) carried
out a very limited study into police interrogation practices of suspected terrorists
in Northern Ireland. Fourth, researchers at the University of Kent have
analysed tape-recordings of real-life police interviews and written extensively
about their research (Moston, 1990a; Moston & Engelberg, 1993; Moston &
Stephenson, 1992, 1993; Moston, Stephenson & Williamson, 1992, 1993; Sear &
Stephenson, 1997; Williamson, 1990, 1993, 1994). Fifth, Baldwin (1993) evaluated
the interview techniques used by English police officers at six police
stations by analysing 600 tape-recorded interviews. These studies will be reviewed
in this chapter. In addition, English training manuals will be briefly
discussed as well as current training in police interviewing.
In addition to the above studies, Pearse and Gudjonsson (1996a) analysed
the techniques used by police officers at two South London police stations from
tape recordings of interviews. They subsequently extended their research to
investigate the techniques used by officers to move suspects in serious cases