How to Handle a Police Interview

Today we’re talking about police interviews and specifically, how to handle yourself if you’re attending a police interview.

In case you’re wondering what takes place, what should you look out for and what exactly should you do or not do, here’s some information that we hope you’ll find useful.

1.  Remain calm throughout the whole interview.

Don’t be too nervous, don’t break down.

2. Be respectful to the person interviewing you.

Even though accusations will be made, they are doing their job to try to get to the bottom of things and to try to understand what exactly took place. Don’t be disrespectful, don’t lose your temper. Remember that.

3. Listen to the question.

Why is that important? If you don’t listen to the question, you tend to pre-empt the question because you think that the interviewer is trying to ask a certain thing when he or she might not be. So, listen to the question first.

4. Understand the question. Ask to clarify what exactly the interviewer is asking about.

Listening to the question is important because you need to understand the question. Which leads me to the next point – if you don’t understand the question, ask to clarify what exactly the interviewer is asking about. Is it about what happened yesterday at this place, or at another place? Or was it something that took place the week before? Was it in this setting or in another context?

Ask and understand first before you take the next step, which is, think of the answer first before giving it without much thought. Once you’ve thought of the answer, say it clearly. And if you need to clarify and give a further explanation to that answer, say so. Tell the interviewer that you need to clarify, that you need to put it into its proper context.

5.  Check the statement very carefully before you sign it.

What you also need to understand is, after the interview is complete, either you have written down a statement or someone else has written it down for you. Or the interviewer has typed it out and printed out a copy for you to review. This is then the opportunity for you to check the statement very carefully before you sign it.

Because once you sign it, it is very difficult to then go back and say, “I didn’t mean what I said in the earlier statement, I meant to say something else”. So, bear that in mind. Check it very carefully before you sign and take the opportunity to make any amendments that you need. Because you will not get a copy of this statement. And you will only get to see it or have a copy under very limited circumstances after the investigation is done.

So, these are the things that you should bear in mind if you’re attending a police interview. And we hope that this will help you be better prepared in attending the interview and completing it.

So, two things you should bear in mind in summary:

1. Remain calm and respectful throughout the interview even though accusations and allegations will be made. Whether they are false, whether they’re true, whether certain insults are made, don’t lose your cool.
2. Don’t be pressured into saying anything that isn’t true. Don’t be pressured into signing a statement that is saying a certain phrase or a choice of words that doesn’t accurately or correctly represent what you have to say. The statement should represent what you have to say.

So, there you have it, some tips for you to bear in mind if you’re attending the police interview. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel or to follow us on Facebook for more updates. See you soon, bye-bye!