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  • Celebrating 20 Years of Training Excellence 2004-2024

Interview Room Design

The environment, more than any other factor, will predetermine an interviewer’s likelihood of success. When interviewing subjects (victims, witnesses and suspects), the location of the interview is VERY important. Whenever possible, we should be interviewing people on “our turf,” that is, in an interview room at our facility. The ideal interview room is a small room (approximately 10 x 10 feet) with only a table and two or three chairs. There should be no pictures, no windows, no phone, and no distractions. We are aiming for a calm, private, and of critical importance – a safe setting that will enable the subject to provide difficult information.

Arrange the room for success.  Sit the person at one corner of the room, facing the door.  You should sit facing the subject with the door behind you. Do not place a table between you and the subject. When you place a subject on the opposite side of the table, you will miss 50 – 75% of their body language.  You should always be able to observe the subject’s entire body – head to toe.  The easiest way to accomplish this is to place yourself and the subject at the corner of the table, at a 45 degree angle. Having a table allows you to place “props” at some point during the interrogation phase.  For example, audio/video tapes, case folders, boxes containing physical or implied evidence, etc.

Sometimes we have no choice but to interview people at their home, their job, or a public location. Just understand that we are at a disadvantage in such environments. If this is the case, always go with a partner and ask the subject to speak with you outside their house or office, adjacent to or in your car.  The key here is to increase your safety and have better control of a foreign environment. Whenever possible, give yourself the strategic edge by choosing an environment over which you have total physical and psychological control.

Paul & Enrique have been team teaching Interviewing & Interrogation together since 1997. They are the principals of Third Degree Communications, Inc.

  • I will continue to use and pass on this information because I really believe in the instructors and their approach.

    —Kimberly Meyer, Washoe County Sheriff's Department
  • Your training gave me the confidence and tools to interview the suspect for over 5 hours and to bring a closure to the case.

    —Daniel Phelan, San Jose Police Department
  • This training provided the useful tools necessary for assessing the veracity of a suspected child abuser, which goes a long way in helping to protect children.

    —Sunny Burgan, MSSW, LCSW, Social Work Supervisor, Santa Clara County DFCS
  • Your training has made the greatest and most direct impact on my assignment of any training class that I've taken.

    —Ken Gelskey, National City Police Department
  • Instructional style is engaging and highly effective.

    —George Laing, Fire Prevention Captain, Investigator
  • This training by far has been the most informative and most effective I've attended. The instructors engaged the students in a manner that made me want to speak my opinion, ask questions, and participate.

    —Julio Ibarra, Merced County Sheriff’s Office
  • The information presented was highly relevant to my job and was presented in a manner that was organized and very easy to digest.

    —Michael McGarvey, California State Prison, San Quentin
  • This was, by far and away the best training I have received in 15 plus years of Law Enforcement. The instructors are experienced, engaging, articulate, and very entertaining. I will be recommending this training to multiple agencies.

    —Mark Paynter, Oregon DOC
  • This was, by far, one of the most useful training classes I've attended since becoming an investigator.

    —Steven Aiello, Antioch Police Department
  • Incredible training with amazing real world instruction. I have been taking law enforcement classes for over 30 years and by far this is the best presented and most useful.

    —Det. Brian Dale, Portland Police Bureau
  • I highly recommend this training for any Probation staff who have the necessity to interview/interrogate individuals for investigation purposes.

    —R. Bret Fidler, Santa Clara County Probation Department
  • Effective teaching teams! The presentation of the material was consistently interesting, and intelligent without being too intellectualized.

    —Michele Keller, Deputy Probation Officer, County of Alameda
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    —Quinten Graves, Oregon State Police