Taught by Jon Rappa.
Mastering Interview and Interrogation for Road Patrol is a two-day course designed to help patrol officers and deputies build real interviewing skills they can use on the street immediately. No prior interview training is required. Whether an officer is new to interviewing or looking to refine advanced skills, this course is designed to improve patrol-level interviews.
Using real body-worn camera interview footage from the instructor’s cases and interviews conducted by former students, officers learn how to prepare for, conduct, and control criminal interviews through hands-on application and real-world breakdowns. The course emphasizes a practical, non-confrontational approach that patrol officers can confidently apply during everyday investigations.
Training focuses on empathy-based interviewing, perspective framing, and the tactical introduction of evidence, while avoiding tactics that increase the risk of false confessions. Officers participate in hands-on scenarios designed to reinforce proper interview structure, questioning, and decision-making.
Patrol officers interview suspects, victims, and witnesses every day. Interviewing is a core patrol responsibility. So why should officers have to wait until they become detectives to be trained?
BE THE BEST INTERVIEWER AT YOUR AGENCY
Explainer video here.
TOPICS INCLUDE:
- Interview goals and preparation
- Rapport-based, non-confrontational interviews
- Avoiding false confessions
- Timeline development
- Framing questions and perspective framing
- The funnel method
- The strategic use of evidence (SUE)
- Empathy-based interviewing
- Identifying “the why”
- Testing admissions
- Breaking bad interviewing habits
- Practical, scenario-based exercises
Jon has taught over 1000 students in Interview and Interrogations techniques and has presented at the Southeastern Homicide Investigators Association Conference (SEHIA) in 2021 and 2023.
Email received from a Sergeant from a mid-size agency in South Florida: “I wanted to take a minute to thank you for coming to our agency and teaching your class. I have received phone calls from every one of our officers who took your class telling me how amazing the class was. One of them stated it was the best class he has ever taken in his 10-year career. Thank you again and I sincerely hope we can host you again in the future.”
Check out Jon’s LinkedIn also.
Find more Interview and Interrogation Training Resources at www.ExtractingTheTruth.com.