write:bring the tape of the first one and play it for him again to remind him of what he said. Since forgetting is starting to occur the tape is a good memory jogger.H. quEStIonS. This

bring the tape of the first one and play it for him again to remind him of what he said. Since forgetting is starting to occur
the tape is a good memory jogger.H. quEStIonS. This is either the second interview or a continuation of the first one. Ask your questions in the order already listed; i.e. general
directed
specific
summary and leading. Ideally
you should have prepared a script of the subjects you want to ask about and the approach you intend to take with each subject.I. CLoSInG. Now you can ask about all the identification stuff you wanted to get at the front end of the interview. In general
get a permanent address and phone number for the witness
some idea of his work schedule and his technical background with respect to airplanes. Also
always ask about other witnesses he may know of and ask if he has any opinions about the accident. His opinions may be of no value to you
but occasionally you’ll get a real gem of an idea. Also
most witnesses like to be asked for their opinion. Finally
lay the groundwork for a follow-up interview if you need one. Find out the best time to contact him.J. REWARD. You want to leave the witness with a good feeling about the inter-view and a willingness to talk with you again. Give him something
perhaps your business card. Ask him if he has any questions he’d like to ask you. If he does
try to answer them. Thank him for his help.9. SomE PRACtICAL PRoBLEmS.A. “GAnG” IntERvIEWS. Although the ideal interview is one-on-one
that is not the normal situation. Most of the time
there will be other investiga-tors participating in the interview. This is not hopeless providing you discuss how the interview is to be handled beforehand. The best way is to select one investigator to do the interviewing and questioning. He sits at the table with the witness. The rest sit in the background
listen and take notes. Like the tape recorder
you eventually forget that they are there.B. GRouP quEStIonInG. Is it possible to question more than one witness at a time? Of course it is. Does it work? Absolutely not. One witness’ statement will influence the others and you will seldom get anyone to disagree with an-other witness’ statement. You end up with a single statement which may or may not be accurate.C. PRESEnCE oF tHIRD PARty. You can exclude non-investigators
but you can rarely exclude any representative a witness chooses to bring. This rep-resentative may be a lawyer
a supervisor or a union representative. Occasion-ally
all three of them will show up. Now what do you do?It doesn’t do any good to object to their presence. The best approach is to talk with these people first and explain how the interview will be conducted. You mainly want to let the witness do the talking and you are not there to ac-cuse him of anything. Resolve the issue of how the interview will be recorded before you start. Remember that as long as the witness is talking
they are not likely to object. Therefore
do as much listening as possible and keep the ques-tions as general as possible.10. SummARy.Interviewing the witnesses could be the most important part of your investiga-tion. It is not easy and it demands both forethought and planning. If you are part of an investigative group
pick your best interviewer and concentrate on helping him develop interview outlines for each witness. Locate the eye witnesses as soon as possible and get their statements as early as possible. Always assume that you may have additional questions for that witness at some time in the future. Leave the door open for another interview.