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EVOCAVI
INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEW TRAINING
OUR SERVICES
ADMITTANCE
EVOCAVI's investigative interview training courses and educational seminars are only open to active duty federal, state, and local sworn law enforcement, non-criminal government investigators, corporate security investigators, operational psychologists, prosecutors and conviction integrity unit staff. If you have any questions about whether your position of employment qualifies you to participate, please contact us.
THE FOUNDATION OF OUR TRAINING
CUSTOMIZED
COURSES
We do not provide a one-size-fits-all interviewing course. Each of our courses is customized to the client agency, the experience level of their staff, and the investigative units they represent. This applies to the course content, its length, practical exercises, and scenarios. Most of our courses are available in both in-person and online formats. ​
HANDS-ON
PRACTICALS
We provide practical exercises after almost every block of instruction. Our students remind us constantly in post-course evaluations how much they appreciated the practical opportunities to apply the techniques.
INSTRUCTOR
TEAMS
Almost all of our courses are staffed by an instructor and a science advisor team. We prefer to provide our courses in this format so that students benefit from the operational experiences of our practitioner instructors and the background research from our science advisors on the reliability and validity of the underlying psychological principles.
INSTRUCTOR-STUDENT
RATIO
Our courses never go over an instructor-to-student ratio of 1:6. We do this intentionally to promote more one-on-one feedback from our instructors to the students during each practical exercise. We also rotate the students between the instructors throughout the week so they benefit from different perspectives and coaching styles.
INVESTIGATIVE
INTEGRITY
We do not advocate or teach any interview strategies or tactics that do not facilitate memory recall, that inhibit the voluntary disclosure of reliable information, or otherwise diminish the integrity of the investigation. This includes theming and persuasion tactics.
INSTRUCTOR
DEMONSTRATIONS
Our instructors are not afraid to provide live demonstrations for our students on how to use each of the techniques we teach. The students benefit greatly from seeing a more hands-on example of how the technique can be applied instead of being lectured to about it. These live demonstrations motivate students to improve their own interview techniques by giving them confidence and context on how to utilize these techniques effectively.
BASIC COURSES
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Corroboration-Based Interviewing for Patrol Officers (CBI)™ [2-Day]
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Corroboration-Based Interviewing for Investigators (CBI)™ [4 or 5-Day]
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Proximity-Based Evidence Disclosure (PED)™ [2-Day]
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Cognitive Interview (CI) [2-Day]
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New- Child Forensic Interview Training (EFIT), [avail. 12/01/25]​
EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS
​Note: These informative online educational seminars will range from 4-8 hours in length and will begin being posted in January, 2026.
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Vulnerable Interviewees
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Understanding Evidence Reliability
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Enhancing Eyewitness Identification Reliability
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False Confessions
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Wrongful Conviction Case Study
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The Scharff Technique: Challenges and Opportunities for Information Elicitation
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Special Topics: Guest Lectures
​CORROBORATION-BASED INTERVIEWING (CBI)
FOR PATROL OFFICERS
(2-Day Course)
™
​​Corroboration-Based Interviewing (CBI)™ for Patrol Officers is a 2-day course built off of the foundation of our initial five-day science-based interview training study.
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This Corroboration-Based Interviewing (CBI)™ course focuses on the fundamentals of becoming an effective interviewer in a patrol capacity and lays the foundation to take the next steps into our basic courses for investigators.
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Course Content​​
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Interviewer Mindset vs Demeanor
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Proactive vs Reactive Interviewing
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Effective Introductions
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Questioning Strategies
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Alternative Retrieval Strategies
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Understanding Contamination
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Social Dynamics​
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Communicating with Vulnerable Interviewees
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Interviewing Uncooperative Subjects
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Introduction to the Cooperation Assessment Protocol (CAP)™
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Introduction to Proximity-Based Evidence Disclosure (PED)™
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There will be hourly practical exercises, instructor led demonstrations, and scenarios throughout the entire course.
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CORROBORATION-BASED INTERVIEWING ....(continued) Q: How long is the course? A: This is a 2-day course. Q: Does this interview training apply to victims, witnesses, and subjects? A: Yes ​Q: Does this training apply to cooperative and uncooperative interviewees? A: Yes ​​Q: Is this considered a basic or advanced course? A: We refer to this Corroboration-Based Interview Course as a basic course for patrol officers. Q: Who should take it? A: Patrol Officers Q: Will I receive a certificate of completion at the end of the course? A: Yes ​Q: Is this course open to police officers outside of the U.S.? A: Yes ​Q: Is this course presented online or in-person? A: Both. This course can be presented online or in-person. ​Q: How many instructors will be provided? A: For CBI courses, we generally keep the instructor to student ratio around 1:4 or 1:6. Q: How many attendees are permitted per course? A: There is a minimum of twelve attendees and a maximum of twenty-four attendees permitted per CBI course. ​Q: Is there a prerequisite to take this CBI course? A: No. ​Q: How much does it cost? A: The cost is dependent on the training format (online vs in -person), number of attendees, venue location, number of instructors needed, and day/time during the week requested. For a cost estimate, please submit a request through our "Contact" page.
​CORROBORATION-BASED INTERVIEWING (CBI)
FOR INVESTIGATORS
(4 or 5-Day Course)
™
​​Corroboration-Based Interviewing (CBI)™ for Investigators is our new comprehensive science-based interview course. This course is built on the foundation of our initial five-day science-based interview training collaboration from 2018.
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This Corroboration-Based Interviewing (CBI)™ course encourages investigators to assume a more proactive-corroborating mindset while they are interviewing a victim, witness, subject, or source. The focus is to create an interview environment based on collaboration, curiosity, and corroborating the reliability of the information and evidence from each interviewee to enhance the integrity of the investigation. ​
​The content of this course will vary slightly depending on whether it is a four or five-day course, and the types of investigations conducted by the attendees.
Course Content​
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Interviewer Mindset vs Demeanor
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Proactive vs Reactive Interviewing
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Developing an Interview Strategy
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Effective Introductions
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Communicating with Vulnerable Interviewees
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Cooperation Assessment Protocol (CAP)™
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Questioning Strategies
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Social Dynamics​
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Memory
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Educational Seminar: Credibility Assessment
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Cognitive Interview (CI) [may be substituted for (PED) in a 4-day course]
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Proximity-Based Evidence Disclosure (PED)™ [may be substituted for the (CI) in a 4-day course]
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There will be hourly practical exercises, instructor led demonstrations, and scenarios throughout the entire course.
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CORROBORATION-BASED INTERVIEWING ....(continued) Q: How long is the course? A: This course is offered in a four or five-day format. Note: Only the four or five-day versions of CBI can serve as the prerequisite to attend any of our advanced courses. Q: Does this interview training apply to victims, witnesses, and subjects? A: Yes ​Q: Does this training apply to cooperative and uncooperative interviewees? A: Yes ​​Q: Is this considered a basic or advanced course? A: While we refer to this Corroboration-Based Interview Course as a basic course, there is nothing "basic" about the content as investigators quickly find out. We have designed this course so it can be scaled to the experience level of our attendees. Q: Who should take it? A: Police Officers, Detectives (from all units), Supervisors of Investigative Units, Conviction Integrity Unit Staff, Intelligence Operatives, Military Investigators, Operational Psychologists, Corporate Security Investigators, Workplace Investigators, Consumer Protection Investigators, and Loss Prevention Investigators. Note: If you are interested in taking this training but are unsure if your position of employment qualifies, please contact us for clarification. Q: Will I receive a certificate of completion at the end of the course? A: Yes ​Q: Is this course open to Investigators outside of the U.S.? A: Yes ​Q: Is this course presented online or in-person? A: Both. This course can be presented online or in-person. ​Q: How many instructors will be provided? A: For CBI courses, we generally keep the instructor to student ratio around 1:4 or 1:6. Q: How many attendees are permitted per course? A: There is a minimum of twelve attendees and a maximum of twenty-four attendees permitted per CBI course. ​Q: Is there a prerequisite to take this CBI course? A: No. ​Q: How much does it cost? A: The cost is dependent on the training format (online vs in -person), number of attendees, venue location, number of instructors needed, and day/time during the week requested. For a cost estimate, please submit a request through our "Contact" page.
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​In 2017, we began having discussions about what is the purpose of disclosing evidence during an interview for investigators. We concluded that the purpose is NOT to detect deception; it is to corroborate the reliability of evidence, resolve gaps in the timeline of the investigation, and clarify remaining discrepancies.
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In 2020, we developed the Proximity-Based Evidence Disclosure (PED)™ training program with assistance from a federal research grant. Through the two-year research project, we began validating the trainability and operational effectiveness of the PED training program with U.S. law enforcement investigators. Click this link to access our first published research paper on PED.
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If you have never been trained in how to evaluate, corroborate, and disclose evidence and information during an interview with a victim, witness, or subject, then this two-day training will be of interest to you.
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Course Content​
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Introduction to the Cooperation Assessment Protocol (CAP)™
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Proximity-Based Evidence Disclosure (PED)™
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Why Evidence Disclosure is about Corroborating Evidence Reliability
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Evaluating Evidence Reliability
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Why Evidence Discrepancies Can be Unreliable
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Corroboration Strategies
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Concerns with Vulnerable Subjects
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Problematic Evidence Disclosure Practices
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Types of Evidence
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Potential vs Available Evidence
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Developing an Evidence Disclosure Plan
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Prioritizing the Order of Disclosure
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Using the Evidence Framing Table (EFT)™
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How CAP™ and PED™ are Integrated
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Additional Evidence Disclosure Considerations
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Adapting Response Tactics for Uncooperative Interviewees while Disclosing Evidence
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There will be practical exercises, instructor led demonstrations, and scenarios throughout the entire course.
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PROXIMITY-BASED EVIDENCE DISCLOSURE 2-DAY COURSE (continued) ​​Q: Does the Proximity-Based Evidence Disclosure interview training apply to all interviewees (e.g., victims, witnesses, subjects)? A: Yes ​​​​Q: Does the Proximity-Based Evidence Disclosure training apply to cooperative and uncooperative interviewees? A: Yes ​Q: Is this considered a basic or advanced course? A: This Proximity-Based Evidence Disclosure course is considered one of our basic science-based interviewing courses. Q: Who should take it? A: Police Officers, Detectives (from all units), Supervisors of Investigative Units, Conviction Integrity Unit Staff,Intelligence Operatives, Military Investigators, Operational Psychologists, Workplace Investigators, Consumer Protection Investigators, and Loss Prevention Investigators. Note: If you are interested in taking this training but are unsure if your position of employment qualifies, please contact us for clarification. Q: Will I receive a certificate of completion at the end of the course? A: Yes ​Q: Is this course open to Investigators outside of the U.S.? A: Yes ​Q: Is this course presented online or in-person? A: Both. This course can be presented online or in-person. ​Q:How long is it? A: This is a two-day course. ​A: How many instructors will be provided? Q: For PED courses, we generally keep the instructor to student ratio around 1:4 or 1:6. Q: How many attendees are permitted per course? A: There is a minimum of twelve attendees and a maximum of twenty-four attendees permitted per course. ​Q: Is there a prerequisite to take this course? A: No. ​Q: How much does it cost? A: The cost is dependent on the training format (online vs in -person), number of attendees, venue location, number of instructors needed, and day/time during the week requested. For a cost estimate, please submit a request through our "Contact" page.
COOPERATION ASSESSMENT PROTOCOL (CAP)
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We developed the Cooperation Assessment Protocol (CAP)™ to assist investigators in better understanding the dynamic between cooperation, trust, information management strategies, and the timeline of the interview. We believe this will help investigators to make more informed assessments of what is motivating an interviewee's behavior, and be able to select more appropriate responses to encourage collaboration and information disclosure.
The Cooperation Assessment Protocol (CAP)™ is the newest addition to our science-based interview training courses. As with our other courses, we are looking forward to opportunities to obtain research funding to validate the framework of this protocol.
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This course is currently being provided within our 4 and 5-day Corroboration-Based Interview (CBI)™ course.
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​Course Content
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Introduction to the Cooperation Assessment Protocol (CAP)™
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Understanding the Interviewee's Perspective
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Levels of Cooperation
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Types of Trust
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Interviewee Perceptions of Trust
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Understanding Information Management Strategies (IMS)
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Why the Interview Timeline can be Informative
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Appropriate Responses for Cooperative and Uncooperative Interviewees
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There will be practical exercises, instructor led demonstrations, and scenarios throughout the entire course.
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COOPERATION ASSESSMENT PROTOCOL (CAP)....(continued) Q: How long is it? A: This course is provided within our 4 and 5-Day CBI course for investigators. The advanced CAP course comes out in January 2026. ​Q: Does this interview training apply to all interviewees (e.g., victims, witnesses, subjects)? A: Yes ​Q: Does this training apply to cooperative and uncooperative interviewees? A: Yes Q: Is this considered a basic or advanced course? A: This CAP course is one of our basic science-based interviewing courses. Q: Who should take this course? A: Police Officers, Detectives (from all units), Supervisors of Investigative Units, Conviction Integrity Unit Staff,Intelligence Operatives, Military Investigators, Operational Psychologists, Corporate Security Investigators, Workplace Investigators, Consumer Protection Investigators, and Loss Prevention Investigators. ​Note: If you are interested in taking this training but are unsure if your position of employment qualifies, please contact us for clarification. Q: Will I receive a certificate of completion at the end of the course? A: Yes ​Q: Is this course open to Investigators outside of the U.S.? A: Yes ​Q: Is this course presented online or in-person? A: Both. This course can be presented online or in-person. ​Q: How many instructors will be provided? A: For CAP courses, we generally keep the instructor to student ratio around 1:4 or 1:6. Q: How many attendees are permitted per course? A: There is a minimum of twelve attendees and a maximum of twenty-four attendees permitted per course. ​Q: Is there a prerequisite to take this course? A: No. ​Q: How much does it cost? A: The cost is dependent on the training format (online vs in -person), number of attendees, venue location, number of instructors needed, and day/time during the week requested. For a cost estimate, please submit a request through our "Contact" page.
THE COGNITIVE INTERVIEW (CI)
The Cognitive Interview (CI) is a protocol primarily developed for interviewing cooperative victims and witnesses, but also for subjects. Its effectiveness in eliciting relatively more details and more accurate details has been studied in over one-hundred peer-reviewed research studies.
The CI focuses on enhancing three specific areas, memory retrieval, communication, and social dynamics between the interviewer and interviewee over a traditional interview style.
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The Cognitive Interview (CI) was developed in 1984 by two U.S. researchers, Ronald Fisher Ph.D., and Edward Geiselman Ph.D. In 1992, they published "Memory-Enhancing Techniques for Investigative Interviewing" which we encourage all investigators to read.
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One reason we have been teaching the Cognitive Interview as the foundation for our five-day CBI-Investigators course is because all of the components of the CI have been individually studied and validated on their own and can be used effectively in an interview even if a full CI is not conducted.
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Course Content​
Here is a broad overview of what will be in this course:​
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Understanding Challenges with Memory Recall
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The Research Supporting the Cognitive Interview (CI)
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How an Interview is Different from a Social Interaction
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Enhancing Communication and Social Dynamics
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The Steps of the Cognitive Interview
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The Progression of Recall Requests
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Challenges with the Cognitive Interview
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How to Scale the Cognitive Interview
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Credibility Assessment Components of the Cognitive Interview
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Using the Cognitive Interview in Officer Involved Shooting Investigations
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There will be practical exercises, instructor led demonstrations, and scenarios throughout the entire course.
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THE COGNITIVE INTERVIEW .... (continued) Q: Does the Cognitive Interview training apply to all interviewees (e.g., victims, witnesses, subjects)? A: Yes​ ​Q: Does the Cognitive Interview training apply to cooperative and uncooperative interviewees? A: No, it only applies to cooperative interviewees. Q: Is this considered a basic or advanced course? A: This Cognitive Interview 2-day course is considered one of our basic science-based interviewing courses. ​Q:Who would benefit from this course? A: Police Officers, Detectives (from all units), Supervisors of Investigative Units, Conviction Integrity Unit Staff, Intelligence Operatives, Military Investigators, Operational Psychologists, Corporate Security Investigators, Workplace Investigators, Consumer Protection Investigators, Loss Prevention Investigators, Private Investigators Note: If you are interested in taking this training but are unsure if your position of employment qualifies, please contact us for clarification. Q: Will I receive a certificate of completion at the end of the course? A: Yes ​​Q: Is this course open to Investigators outside of the U.S.? A: Yes ​​Q: Is this course presented online or in-person? A: Both. This course can be presented online or in-person. ​​Q: How long is it? A: This is a 2-day course. ​​Q: How many instructors will be provided? A: For this Cognitive Interview course, we generally keep the instructor to student ratio around 1:4 or 1:6. ​Q: How many attendees are permitted per course? A: There is a minimum of twelve attendees and a maximum of twenty-four attendees permitted per course. ​​Q: Is there a prerequisite to take this course? A: Yes, you must have completed the three, four, or five-day CBI course ​​Q: How much does it cost? A: The cost is dependent on the training format (online vs in -person), number of attendees, venue location, number of instructors needed, and day/time during the week requested. For a cost estimate, please submit a request through our "Contact" page.
ADVANCED COURSES
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ADV- Corroboration-Based Interviewing for Investigators (CBI)™ [4-Day]
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ADV- Proximity-Based Evidence Disclosure (PED)™ [2-Day]
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ADV- Cognitive Interviewing (CI) [2-Day]
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ADV- Adapting to Uncooperative Interviewees (CAP)™ [2-Day]
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Note: All of our advanced courses will become available to schedule starting in January 2026.
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Prerequisites: In order to attend any of the advanced courses, an attendee must have completed the four or five-day CBI- Investigators course.
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Pricing: Most of our courses are agency specific (i.e., only staff from that agency can attend) and a cost estimate is provided directly to the agency. However, due to an increase in demand, we will be offering opportunities for courses that have an open enrollment (i.e., participants from differing agencies may attend) and we will publish the pricing for those courses in the training announcement posted to our "Events" page.
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EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS
EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS
These informative online educational seminars will range from 4-8 hours in length and will begin being offered in January, 2026.
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Here are a few examples of seminars that will be presented next year.
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Vulnerable Interviewees
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Understanding Evidence Reliability
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Enhancing Eyewitness Identification Reliability
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False Confessions
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Wrongful Conviction Case Study
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The Scharff Technique: Challenges and Opportunities for Information Elicitation
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Special Topics: Guest Lectures
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Once scheduled, these educational seminars will be provided over the Microsoft TEAMS virtual platform.
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Each seminar will have opportunities for the attendees to ask questions and engage with the presenter.
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Note: There are no prerequisites required to attend these educational seminars
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Pricing: All of our educational seminars will be provided as open enrollment (i.e., participants from differing agencies may attend) and we will publish the pricing for those courses in the training announcement posted to our "Events" page as they become available.
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INTERVIEW ANALYSIS
INTERVIEW ANALYSIS
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Our interview analysis service is only provided to investigators and their agencies who are looking to get professional feedback on completed interviews with the intent to improve their interview skills, assess the reliability of the information obtained, and identify additional questioning areas to explore for follow up interviews.
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This analysis will go beyond simple assessments of how many closed vs open-ended questions are being asked. We have developed a 360 degree evaluative guide that can be customized depending upon the needs of the client for each interview.
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For interview analysis requests that involve an ongoing case or sensitive information, we normally sign NDA agreements and request the information be anonymized with all PII removed prior to us reviewing the interview. If you do not have the resources the remove the PII, we can provide them for you.
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We will never ask you to send us your interviews. We prefer that you maintain control of any interview that is requested to be analyzed. We will suggest that you send us a link or allow us to watch the interview with you.
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All requests for Interview Analysis should be submitted through our "Contact" page.
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IMPORTANT: We do not provide our interview analysis service for ongoing civil or criminal cases. We are happy to refer you to experts who handle these types of requests.
INTERVIEW CONSULTS
INTERVIEW CONSULTS
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Unlike our Interview Analysis service, our Interview Consults are for developing an interview and evidence disclosure strategy for an upcoming interview that has not taken place yet.
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Our Interview Consult services are offered to all investigators.
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For Interview Consult requests that involve an ongoing case or sensitive information, we normally sign NDA agreements and request the information be anonymized with all PII removed prior to us reviewing the interview.
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We can provide references for the investigators and agencies whom we have provided interview consults with in the last few years.
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All requests for an Interview Consult should be submitted through our "Contact" page.