Interviewing victims, witnesses and suspects

Unit 9 of the Level 5 Diploma in Professional Policing Practice, with the law behind it and the pages on this site to read alongside.

What the unit covers

Interviewing victims, witnesses and suspects is unit 9 of the SFJ Awards Level 5 Diploma in Professional Policing Practice, at 180 guided learning hours and 34 credits. The handbook says it covers "the impact of memory on interview methods, the fundamentals of investigative interviewing, and the preparation and planning required for effective interviews".

There are four learning outcomes. The first is to understand memory: the psychological and physiological influences on it, including the effect of trauma on encoding and recall, and the different interview methodologies. The second is to understand investigative interviewing: the national principles including the PEACE process, what an interview strategy and plan must contain, including identification and initial accounts, the types of witness interview, what to do when a victim or witness is reluctant, and how interviews and statements are recorded and stored. The third is to plan and prepare, producing a strategy and plan and identifying the suspect-specific considerations: significant statements, silence and no comment interviews, relevant comment, offences to be taken into consideration, and the statements needed according to anticipated plea, including pre-charge engagement and defence statements. The fourth is to conduct interviews: briefing a suspect's legal representative before interview, making adjustments for victims and witnesses, explaining the process to those present, giving the required cautions and evidential or special warnings and checking they are understood, maintaining security and welfare, using approved techniques and exhibits, handling contingencies, completing records, closing, evaluating, and carrying out post-interview procedures.

In the apprenticeship standard (ST0304) this is duty 10, and skill 12 names the PEACE model and the standards in Authorised Professional Practice.

The law and procedure behind it

This summary follows the site's own pages linked under Read on this site, which carry the section and Code citations; the sources listed above are the training documents, not the Acts. Read the Act or Code before relying on any point here.

Suspect interviews are governed by PACE Code C. Before questioning the suspect must be cautioned: you do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court, and anything you do say may be given in evidence. The caution carries three points: the right to silence, the adverse inference a court may draw under sections 34 to 37 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 from a failure to mention a fact later relied on, and the evidential status of what is said. A person in custody has the right under section 58 to consult a solicitor privately and free of charge, delayable only for an indictable offence on a superintendent's authority and for no more than 36 hours; once a solicitor is requested, questioning must not begin until they arrive except in the limited circumstances in Annex B.

Recording is mandatory. Code E requires audio recording of suspect interviews at police stations, with the suspect told the interview is being recorded and given access to the recording, and Code F governs visual recording where the equipment exists, without replacing the audio requirement. A voluntary interview under Code C paragraph 3.21 is still an interview under caution with the same right to legal advice; the person is free to leave, but the evidence carries the same weight. Juveniles and mentally vulnerable people cannot be interviewed without an appropriate adult, who may intervene to help communication or to flag unfairness.

Victims and witnesses are interviewed differently. Vulnerable or intimidated witnesses, including children, are interviewed under Achieving Best Evidence guidance on video, so the recording can be played as evidence in chief, and may be supported at trial by special measures under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999. A victim personal statement, taken separately, records the effect of the offence. Section 78 of PACE allows a court to exclude evidence, including interview evidence, obtained in a way that would make the trial unfair.

Read on this site

PACE

Rights

Glossary

Knowledge

Compare

Legislation

Aide-memoires

Where it sits in training

The College of Policing's 2026 joining guide sets the milestones every route shares: initial off-the-job learning within five to six months, a tutored patrol phase within ten months, and full operational competence at around two years, with an evidence portfolio built throughout. Witness statements are taken from the first tutored patrol; suspect interviews follow as a recruit's own investigations begin.

In the diploma, the practical criteria for planning and conducting interviews are assessed once Independent Patrol Status is confirmed, each on at least two occasions in the Operational Competence Portfolio, and the handbook maps them to the national Independent Patrol Status criteria. The knowledge on memory, trauma and the national principles is evidenced at least once and belongs to the off-the-job phase, while the strategies for more complex interviews are evidenced under the investigations unit, which the handbook maps to Full Operational Competence.

Sources

Last updated 19 October 2026. Reviewed 19 October 2026