Police Perceptions of Interviews Involving Children with Intellectual Disabilities: A Qualitative Inquiry

Abstract

This study employed a qualitative method to explore the experiences of 20 police officers when interviewing children with intellectual disabilities. Three main themes were interpreted as representing challenges to the officers when interviewing special‐needs children: police organizational culture, participants' perceptions of these children as interviewees, and prior information. Participants in this inquiry mentioned poor organizational priority within the police force for child abuse cases and children with intellectual disabilities, as well as inadequate support for interviewing skills development and maintenance. Participants also attempted to equalize these children by interviewing them in the same way as their mainstream peers. Finally, participants viewed interview preparation as influential in determining an interview's successful outcome, but recognized that preparedness could bias their interviewing techniques. Increased attention towards these issues will provide a basis for developing strategies to minimize such challenges and thus improve the quality of interviews with children with intellectual disabilities.

Keywords:

• Intellectual Disability
• Child Sexual Abuse
• Investigative Interviews

Notes

The authors are all at Deakin University, Australia. Correspondence: Dr Martine Powell, School of Psychology, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood 3125, Australia. E‐mail: [email protected]. The authors would like to thank Sarah Agnew and the officers at the Victoria Police Video and Audio Taped Evidence (VATE) coordination office for their assistance in implementing this project.