Interview Technique for Private Investigators

When you think about an interview you probably think about movies where there is a bright light and an officer of some sort using pretty intense interrogation techniques on a person.  While certainly that is a technique that holds some merit at times, there are many other techniques that private investigators use.  Private investigators are called upon to interview individuals for many reasons.  Attorneys will use private investigators to interview a variety of people when they are trying to find someone or trying to find out about someone.  Additionally, and very commonly, attorneys will rely on their investigators in a criminal matter to interview witnesses in their place.  This gives an advantage to the attorney in that they are able to remove themselves from the interview and are able to use the investigator in trial should the need arise.  Thus, private investigators need to be very skilled at interviews and their clients need to be able to trust that they will ask the right questions and most importantly, get the right answers.  Gunderson is well trained in interview, interrogation and positive persuasion techniques (See this blog post about his training).  He knows what questions to ask. He knows how to get answers.  He knows how to motivate the subject to the truth.  Once he knows that a subject is withholding information, he is able to create a strategy to bring the subject to actually have the “desire” to tell the truth.  One part of this technique involves allowing the subject to know that you understand and can empathize with the reasons that someone uses to justify their actions.  You make the subject feel like you believe the same way that he/she does and that there are reasons that make the actions ok.  As we all know, when someone understands our reasons for doing or saying something wrong, we relax a little.  For example if you are in an argument with a friend and you say something hurtful to him that you regret, you may feel terrible.  If the friend and you can talk and your friend tells you that he understands why you said that, that what you said was in response to something he did and so he understands why you reacted this way.  All of the sudden it might be easier for you to apologize.  Knowing these techniques and mastering them takes practice and experience.  Gunderson has both and can find answers.