The Cognitive Interview – Effective and Efficient

With an ever-increasing caseload, a nearly empty squad room, and an overburdened legal system, an investigator’s time is a valuable commodity. The CTK Group understands that and works tirelessly to provide the most up-to-date, relevant, and evidenced-based interview and interrogation training possible.


In the last fifteen years, the CTK Group has trained thousands of police officers with the goal of changing today’s interview and interrogation culture. Our training focuses on getting the little things right, understanding custodial and non-custodial situations, and creating an environment that fosters voluntariness and truth-filled responses from those we are talking to.


Any law enforcement professional who has attended our Evidenced Based or Advanced Interview and Interrogation class know that we strongly endorse the Cognitive Interview Method that was developed by Ronald Fisher and Edward Geiselman.   This empirically tested and highly effective information-collecting technique results in more detail, volume, and a greater chance of getting to the truth.


The Cognitive Interview (CI) is one of the most, if not the most, effective ways to interview victims, witnesses, and suspects. With victims and witnesses, the CI will give law enforcement more detail and accuracy in the recall. With suspects, the CI encourages detailed responses, counters evasiveness, and helps identify deception.


We agree that the Cognitive Interview will take longer than a traditional interview, but the result will be more closed cases, solved crimes, and dramatic time savings. Come train with us today and begin the journey to become an elite interviewer.

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Interview and Interrogation Training is Broken

In 2008, Chris, Jon, and I were asked to teach interview and interrogation for our department.
No training, no resources, just go out and teach this topic. If you are an instructor in law
enforcement, you’ve probably been forced into the same situation. Maybe someone hands you
an old power point or training curriculum, but most likely not. You are on your own.


So 2008 was the beginning of The CTK Group’s odyssey, and it began where it should…in the
library. Countless hours were spent researching legal decisions and interview and interrogation
techniques. We reviewed it all. The PEACE Method, The Reid Technique, The Participatory
Method, The Cognitive Interview, Investigative Interviewing, and the W-Z Method. We
contacted experts such as Ed Geiselman, Andy Griffiths, Becky Milne, Christian Meissner and
built a library with almost every research article published.


It didn’t take long to figure out that Interview and Interrogation training in the United States is
broken. Traditional big box companies have failed American police officers by teaching them
techniques that are not evidence-based. Officers across the U.S. continue to use techniques
that are not supported by the research. Our training aims to change that. How? Take a look at
our Resources Page. This page is the foundation from which we teach. Every American police
officer should live and breathe the research found on this page. If you want to change the
culture of interview and interrogation inside your department, start reading. Then, come train
with us as we build an evidence-based approach!

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