Outside the “cool” parts of law enforcement that we see on TV, a huge chunk of the profession operates on a lot of people skills and community engagement. Checking how people within the community are doing, persuading them to act a certain way, explaining the law and different policies, mediating conflicts, and just a lot of talking in general. One of the specific segments of the law enforcement profession that utilize communication skills a lot and would benefit further from it are the investigators.

Back on Justice Clearinghouse to talk about motivational conversation for investigators is Al Cobos. Al has more than three decades worth of experience in the field of law enforcement. He currently serves as a Sergeant at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) Training Bureau’s Education-Based Discipline/Leadership Unit and is also the primary consultant and owner of Dychelon, LLC.

Topics discussed in this session are:

• The various situations that law enforcement engages with community members and how motivational conversation can make these contacts more productive and efficient.
• How motivational conversation establishes the foundation for good policing by building rapport and fostering relationships.
• How motivational conversation is being used by investigators with the intent of truth-seeking.
• How motivational conversations, rapport building, and communication skills within the law enforcement profession lead to legitimacy, trust, and compliance with the community.
• A recap of how motivational conversation happens by shifting from telling mode to asking mode, and when to utilize telling versus asking.
• Rooting motivational conversations motives in authenticity and rightness and directing towards an outcome.
• How asking enables law enforcement to connect with individuals and communities by understanding their priorities and considerations and how this inevitably leads to relationship-building.
• The purposeful process of asking that looks into intent, conversations, relationships, and results.
• What is intended to be accomplished in custodial and non-custodial contacts, and how motivational conversation facilitates this.
• How motivational conversation works alongside analytical interviewing techniques.
• A glimpse into the incident handling process and at which points can motivational interviewing be applied.
• Introducing the skills and competencies practiced by investigators/detectives as early on in law enforcement foundational roles and how it can shape the organizational culture in the long run.
• The critical role of investigators and how their proficiencies are foundational to being an effective line-level staff and just as valuable as one advances through the profession.

Questions from the audience were about:

• Examples of motivational conversation and questions.
• The difference between motivational conversation and motivational interviewing.
• Resources to deep dive on concepts related to motivational conversations.
• Applying motivational conversation concepts on children/youth.
• Facilitating motivational conversations between the public and law enforcement amidst the socio-political tension between these groups.
• Getting buy-in from leadership to shift into this culture and applying motivational conversation to secure that buy-in.

Other Webinars with this Speaker:

• Motivational Conversations for Supervisors 
• Motivational Conversations for Investigators (this webinar)
• June 24: Motivational Conversations for Community Building

Or click here to view and register for other upcoming NSA webinars on the JCH Platform.

Resources and Handouts

• Handout: How to Ask Questions/The Art of Questioning
• Book: Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change by Miller and Rollnick
• The Six Type of Socratic Questions

Audience Comments

• “I am a probation officer and we do Pre-Sentence Investigations for the Court. We are also out in the field supervising our clients in some pretty tough neighborhoods. We have been trained in Motivational Interviewing. This was interesting training because even though we are not investigators within a police force, we do much of the same things when it comes to how to talk to people. building rapport and trust so we can get a factual report with meaningful recommendations for the sentencing.” — Lisa
• I mentor women and work for a victim services agency. Many opportunities to encourage people towards personal growth and pattern-breaking. Thank you! — Tressa
• “The presenter was definitely prepared and provided good info!” — Reb
• “An excellent program to add for a Leadership class (In-Service).” — Robert
• “I appreciate that the speaker focused on the importance of motivational interviewing to build rapport, increase critical and analytical interviewing techniques. Typically, the motivational interview is encouraged as a modality for substance abuse counseling. However, the speaker made this applicable for other types of communication, interviewing, and investigation. As a supervisor, this will help me train and mentor staff for interviewing subjects of their investigation.” — Lezlie