INTERVIEWS
Avoid the biases
As an investigator you may think you’re doing the right thing in searching for the truth during your interview, but sometimes it’s easy to fall victim to having confirmation bias. Too often, due to someone giving you an anonymous tip or piece of evidence, or even due to behaviour you’ve witnessed during an interview, you make up in your mind that the subject is guilty or even lying. Confirmation bias may even put in you a position to defend and prove your theory at all costs. That’s not the right way to do an investigation. You need to let the facts speak for themselves.
What happens when you have confirmation bias is that you make up your mind what the end result should be, and ultimately conduct an investigation to prove your theory versus to prove the truth. Think about that during your next investigation. Reflect back on some other interviews that you’ve done. What really came first? Did the facts and evidence really prove that the subject was guilty, or did you just decide that they were?
Challenge yourself to make sure that you go into every investigation without a bias and with a clear intention to look for the truth. Look for reliable information, no matter which way it leads.
