Chapter 15, “Interviewing Suspects in Criminal Investigations: Decisions and their Consequences,” Mark Snow and Joseph Eastwood identified many factors that affect decisions made by police officers. As a retired Sheriff Sergeant, I comment on this chapter and provide a first-hand observation of how police officers make decisions in interrogations and investigations. Factors that influence these decisions include the training officers receive, legal and procedural rules, the officer’s personality and ability, time, and witness memory, among others.

Snow and Joseph Eastwood break down the interviewing of suspects into the five “W’s” (and discussions of each) includes considerations of the real-world constraints. In practice, and as the authors correctly identify, there is little training provided to patrol officers on the most effective techniques and best practices for productive interviews of suspects.