Behavioral Interviewing and Interrogation Techniques - Essay Example

On the 1st of February my cousin and his wife left their house to do some errands. My cousin wore black shorts and his favorite blue shirt while his wife wore her favorite shorts and a black-and-white striped shirt. They both wore sandals. First, they went to the bank to deposit put in some money they had made from the private English classes they gave the previous week. Since it was the day after payday, my cousin shared they had to wait for a while to make their deposit because there were only two bank tellers and around fifteen persons in the queue.

While he was standing in line, my cousin’s wife decided to go around the mall and just meet him somewhere after he was done. Around fifteen minutes after his wife left, my cousin left the bank. He called her on her cellular phone but there was no answer. So, he went to the usual shop he knew she liked. Five minutes later, his phone went off and it was his wife calling from the bank. He tells her to wait for him there. When they meet, he finds out that she had been on her way back to the bank, located on the first level, right after he had gone to the second level to look for her.

They tried a newly-opened Italian restaurant for lunch. He got a medium-sized pizza for himself and she had an order of spaghetti. After eating, they headed to the supermarket to buy what they needed for the week. When they were done at the supermarket, they decided to head home so my cousin’s wife could take a nap. On the way home in the car, my cousin’s wife fell asleep and didn’t wake up until they got home. Since she was able to sleep a bit in the car, my cousin’s wife announced that she was making dinner early so she and my cousin could watch a movie at home before going to sleep.

My cousin agreed. I think that the structural technique was better in this situation because I did not really want to know anything in particular. In the beginning, I used the traditional technique and asked the WH-questions. (Gosselin, 2007, p. 4-5) This is why I was able to know the date and time of some events. However, unless I asked something, my cousin would not give me additional information. Later on, I switched to the structural technique. This proved to be a lot better. I was still about to get information from my cousin.

Moreover, he sensed that I was urging him to continue after his replies so he continued telling me his story. I mostly nodded to show him I understood what he was saying. I also asked follow-up questions which encouraged him to talk more. Since he was very eager to share, I was able to get more details about that particular day. Reference:Gosselin, D. K. (2007). Smart Talk: Contemporary Interviewing and Interrogation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.