Training
Our Law Enforcement Partners
In a make-shift interview room in
Northern Virginia, a girl was asked to describe how she became a crime victim.
An older man she met on the Internet lured her into sending him nude pictures.
And now an investigator was trying to build a case against the man.
In this scenario, the girl was an
actress playing an underage teen and the investigator was an international
police officer during a two-week human trafficking course at the FBI Academy in
Quantico. A key piece of the curriculum was learning how to properly interview
child victims using techniques practiced by the child forensic interviewers in
the FBI’s Office for Victim Assistance (OVA), where the forensic interviewer’s
primary role is to further an investigation.
“The forensic interview is to gather
statements that can be used in court,” said Martha Finnegan, one of four FBI
child/adolescent forensic interviewers who have developed a proven approach to
questioning kids following crimes and traumatic events. “We actually have a
research-based protocol that we follow that consists of multiple stages. And
following the protocol makes the interview legally defensible in a court of
law.”
Knowing what to ask—and what not to
ask—is essential, as is knowing how to get young crime victims to open up. The
recent training was for 17 law enforcement officers from four Central American
countries. They were led through scenarios covering everything from where to
conduct interviews and who should attend to how to open conversations and put
young victims at ease.
The officers learned different
techniques for building rapport with young children and older adolescents, all
the while being reminded to balance investigative efforts against the
conditions of the victims.
“One of the most important things,
besides getting the information and the evidence, is also to do it in a way
that doesn’t additionally traumatize that child,” said Kathryn Turman, program
director for OVA. “We’ve actually found that it can be empowering to a child to
be able to tell what happened and to be able to tell it soon.”
Mock interviews culminate the two days
of lectures. The officers, assisted by Spanish-speaking FBI interpreters,
paired off with actors trained to portray specific victim behaviors, which
included being less than cooperative. These officers spend their days facing
down gang members and dangerous criminals, but quite often children are around
when crimes occur. “So being able to talk to kids who are present in so many
different situations is really a great skill to have,” Turman said.
In a room adjoining the interviews,
classmates watched on closed-circuit television as their colleagues took turns
trying to apply the protocol they just learned to a realistic interview. The
underage girl who was solicited to send nude pictures was stoic and evasive,
compelling her interviewer to modify his line of questions until finally he
made a connection. Each officer got to conduct two separate interviews, and
each showed a marked improvement.
The FBI forensic interviewers conduct
scores of interviews each year and provide training and technical assistance to
thousands of local, state and federal partners. Finnegan said she hopes the
officers will apply and share the FBI’s approach back home and keep evolving
their skills.
“We’re hoping that they’re able to take
some parts of our protocol and some understanding about the dynamics of
exploitation away from this training,” she said.
National Crime Victims’ Rights Week
Sunday marks the beginning of National
Crime Victims’ Rights Week, an annual event started in 1981 by the Department
of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs to promote victims’ rights, honor
victims of crime, and recognize those who work on behalf of victims. For more
information about National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, visit http://ovc.ncjrs.gov/ncvrw/.
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