We Need to Talk: Fundamentals of Investigative Interviews

Thursday January 23, 2025

12:00pm - 2:00pm  *held virtually in ZOOM meetings

Fee:
$125.00 + HST Registration opens December 2nd, 2024

This online interactive session is back by popular demand! It is targeted at anyone involved in an investigation/resolution/intake process who speaks formally or informally to any party.   

We will focus on the building blocks of good investigative interviewing, including:

• Identifying who you should interview

• Fundamental principles that underpin any interview

• Preparing for the interview, including building life experiences and cultural considerations into the process

• Structuring the interview

A great refresher for more experienced folks, and an excellent introduction for those newer to the field.

Includes video clips of interviews done well – and not so well.  As interactive as time permits, but no role play, guaranteed.

Note this is a repeat of the Oct 3rd We Need to Talk training offered in 2024.

SPEAKER: GARETH JONES

Gareth was the Director of the major investigation team (aka SORT) at the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario between 2005 and 2020. He was also a member of the Executive Management Team. Prior to that he was a senior member of the team that set up the Department of National Defence and Canadia Armed Forces Ombudsman Office. He became a Director of the major investigation unit. He was an investigator with the Attorney General of Ontario, Special Investigations Unit, from 1991 to 2001.

The SIU conducts investigations into serious injuries and deaths involving police, to determine if any officer has committed a criminal offence. He investigated or reviewed approximately 500 such incidents, most as the lead investigator.

Gareth has created and delivered training on conducting investigations to or on behalf of many organizations, including the UNHCR, the OSCE, and the OHCHR, as well as Ombudsman/Human Rights offices in Australia, Europe, the US, South America and Africa, including the Public Protector of South Africa. He also provides customized training to regulators, businesses, government agencies, oversight bodies, unions, academia and many others on how to conduct investigations.   

He is the co-author of How To Investigate: The Fundamentals Of Effective Fact Finding, (Thomson Reuters, 2021). He wrote Conducting Administrative, Oversight and Ombudsman Investigations (Carswell, 2009) and Undertaking Effective Investigations: A Guide for National Human Rights Institutions (Asia Pacific Forum, 2014). The film rights for all of them are still available, surprisingly.

Gareth was an advisor to the New Zealand Department of Corrections and several other oversight agencies. He was a member of the 2020/21 Correctional Service of Canada Independent Review Committee that examined how CSC investigates non-natural deaths in Federal prisons.

He has been retained as an expert in police shooting and pursuit cases in Canada, the US and the Cayman Islands, as well as in workplace investigations in Canada.

Registration will be limited. All Registrations for this session are firm.