The changing nature of police interviewing in Ireland

This thesis examines the role of investigative interviewing in the Irish criminal justice system. Investigative interviewing covers all aspects of speaking to persons, in the course of a criminal investigation, to obtain from them all pertinent information that he or she may have in his or her possession. Such investigative interviewing therefore also applies to the witnesses and victims of crime. Though all aspects of investigative interviewing are examined in this thesis, it is primarily concerned with the interviewing of criminal suspects. It will be argued that a major paradigm shift occurred with the introduction of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 in Ireland. This Act created, for the first time, the legal architecture necessary to question those suspected of involvement in serious crime. This changed the stated purpose of an arrest from a mechanism to bring a person speedily before the courts to one were an arrest became an integral part of the police criminal investigation. Alongside this legislation, new provisions provided safeguards to protect those brought in for questioning. The Irish police, An Garda Síochána, received no additional training to address this change of function. As a result of the Morris Tribunal, it was established that Gardaí received very little instruction in obtaining witness, victim or suspect statements. This thesis will examine two alternative police interview models in order to evaluate the interview model adopted by the Gardaí. This has resulted in a well-designed interview model that is appropriate in the majority of interview situations. To ensure its successful implementation into practice requires a committed training programme. Training began in 2014 and is on-going throughout the organisation. However, some training aspects have been considerably shortened and previous experience suggests that even well designed programmes can fail to deliver their objectives because of issues with training. Consequently, legislation may often itself fail in its stated purpose and aims.