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A new specialist Centre of Forensic Interviewing opened on 15 December at the University of Portsmouth which will train practitioners and students in investigative interview techniques.

The Centre uses Home Office-standard state-of-the-art digital equipment to record interviews that allows real time viewing and recorded play back anywhere in the university.

It means that students and those in the profession can take what they learn in the lecture theatre and on the job and practice it for real in one of the best facilities available in the UK.

It will be used by students of criminology, psychology and law as well as members of the police, counter-fraud practitioners, security services, lawyers, and the probation service. Students and professionals alike will have the opportunity to take part in mock interviews which will be recorded in order to learn from watching, being directly involved in and allowing minute scrutiny and analysis. It will also be available for the police to interview vulnerable witnesses and suspects in cases where specialist recording is required.

The new facility is being officially today by Professor Emeritus John Grieve and will be attended by representatives from the police forces of Avon and Somerset, British Transport Police, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire, Kent, Metropolitan, Surrey, and Sussex.

The Centre’s leader, Dr Becky Milne, a chartered forensic psychologist and lecturer at the University’s Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, is a leading figure in police interview training, working closely with the police and other criminal justice organisations in the UK and abroad. She specialises in cognitive interviewing, witness interview and interviewing of vulnerable groups. She said: “The police interview is at the heart of every criminal investigation and doing it well is a critical tool for all those involved in the criminal justice process. We’re ahead of the game in terms of the equipment and facilities which rival the best in the world and which we can offer to all types of investigator at different stages of their career, from learning the basics to advanced interview skills. “And it’s an exciting opportunity to conduct new research in the field which will in turn help to inform the training we provide to students and interview practitioners.”

The Centre will become a venue for specialist seminars and master classes in all aspects of forensics, the first one on statement credibility by renowned Professor Gunter Kohnken from the University of Kiel, Germany.