interviews
Obtaining a voluntary statement
At the conclusion of your subject interview it is always recommended to obtain a recap of the conversation from your subject; a voluntary written statement. One of the most common forms of a voluntary statement is the narrative-style statement. The narrative statement is a handwritten account of the events divulged during the conversation provided by the subject.
Your subject writes the narrative as a first person account to describe their involvement in the incident under investigation. The statement is usually a series of paragraphs written on plain paper or on a company document where the opening and closing are pre-printed.
The subject’s narrative describes the incident and substantiates their involvement with details. The statement contains elements of the crime or policy violation and in certain cases the subject’s feelings about the incident. Obtaining the narrative in chronologic order, with as much detail as possible will help you in the disciplinary track. The narrative statement can also incorporate information relating to the subject’s state of mind at the time the incident occurred.
A handwritten voluntary narrative statement will help prove the believability of the subject’s verbal confession.
