Since 1947, John E. Reid and Associates has been conducting investigative interviews and, when appropriate, interrogations.

For over six decades, we have been teaching investigators from law enforcement, government agencies, and the private sector from around the world proper interview and interrogation procedures. In this document, we will detail the procedures, guidelines, and best practices that we teach to all investigators. We will also respond to suggestions by defense attorneys, academicians, and false confession “experts” that the Reid Technique is a coercive process.

In their August 26, 2016 report - “Interrogation: A Review of the Science, High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group September 2016"- the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (established by President Obama) described science-based interviewing/interrogation (methodology) as including

• the development of cooperation via rapport and trust
• the elicitation of information using productive questioning to enhance a subject’s recollection
• the use of strategic questioning and assessment of verbal or story-based cues to evaluate credibility; and,
• the strategic withholding of evidence as a way to identify statement-evidence inconsistencies and resolve a subject’s responses to discrepancies.”

This HIG description of science-based methodology describes the Reid Technique process.

The following are the essential elements of the Reid Technique interview and interrogation process: