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Investigative interview training

Interview training
that measures
as it teaches

Elicit places your investigators and enforcement officers in conversation with a realistic AI subject. Every question they ask is logged, typed, and scored against the PEACE framework. Every session ends with an assessment report that tells you exactly where each officer stands - and what they need to work on next.

43
Territorial police forces in England and Wales, all mandated to train to the PEACE model
£18,500
Average cost of a failed prosecution - interview quality is among the leading contributing factors*
Zero
Nationally standardised AI interview assessment tools available to forces before Elicit
2024
College of Policing updated Authorised Professional Practice for investigative interviewing
The problem

You cannot improve what you cannot measure

Every police force trains to PEACE. Most invest significantly in roleplay courses, professional actors, and facilitated sessions. Very few can tell you, officer by officer, how well each one applies the framework under pressure - because current training produces no objective record.

"The quality of investigative interviewing is one of the most significant variables in the criminal justice process. It determines what evidence is captured, how reliable it is, and whether a prosecution can succeed."

College of Policing, Authorised Professional Practice: Investigative Interviewing

Role-play does not scale

A professional actor handles six to eight sessions per day. Your force has hundreds of investigators at different PIP levels. The scheduling alone makes meaningful regular practice impossible for most officers.

eLearning is passive

Video-based modules tell officers what good interviewing looks like. They do not develop the skill of doing it. Watching a model interview and conducting one under pressure are entirely different competencies.

No objective assessment exists

Facilitator feedback is subjective, inconsistent, and unrecorded. There is no standard by which a detective sergeant can compare officer A and officer B. Development planning is based on impression, not evidence.

HMICFRS scrutiny is increasing

Inspection frameworks now examine whether forces have systematic approaches to developing and assessing investigative skills - not just whether training was delivered. The absence of a documented, objective assessment process is increasingly a finding in itself.

Current role-play training - cost per officer
Professional actor (half-day booking)
£500
Facilitator time (preparation and debrief)
£200
Venue and equipment
£150
Officer time away from operations
£300+
Objective post-session assessment
None
Replicable exactly for next officer
No
Cost per officer per session
£1,150+

Industry rates for professional roleplay actors and training facilitation. Officer time costed at detective constable top-of-scale rate. Elicit sessions are available on demand, with no scheduling, no actor fees, and a full assessment report included in each session.

What Elicit is

A flight simulator for investigative interviewing

Elicit is an AI-driven interview training platform for investigators, enforcement officers, and anyone whose job requires eliciting accurate accounts from people who may not want to give them. It uses realistic AI subjects with structured knowledge graphs - facts they know, facts they will only reveal under the right conditions, and facts they will not give up without evidence challenge.

The analogy

A pilot does not learn to land in fog on the first flight. They practice in a simulator until the response is automatic. Elicit applies the same logic to interviewing. The AI subject is as realistic as your officers can handle. The assessment is more detailed than any human observer could provide. And the subject is available at any time, never has a bad day, and never gives the same performance twice.

  • Interviews conducted by voice, with a realistic AI avatar - not multiple-choice or video
  • Every session assessed in real time against the PEACE framework
  • Knowledge graph tracks exactly which facts were elicited, how, and when
  • Question types classified automatically - open, closed, leading, multiple, forced-choice
  • Rapport score measured across the session using the ORBIT framework
  • Every session produces a full assessment report for the officer and their supervisor

Officer receives the scenario briefing

Before the interview begins, the officer reads a scenario briefing - the nature of the incident, any background information they would realistically hold, and the objectives for the interview. No more, no less than they would have in a real case.

The interview begins

The AI subject - a realistic video avatar with a voice and a fully scripted persona - enters the room. The officer conducts the interview by voice. The AI responds in character, tracks the officer's approach, and reveals information according to its knowledge graph only when the right technique is applied.

Live feedback (optional)

If enabled by the supervisor, a live feedback panel shows the officer's PEACE phase, question type in real time, and rapport markers as they appear. In assessment mode this panel is hidden - the officer works without the guide.

Assessment report generated

On completion, the Elicit Assessment Report is produced immediately. PEACE phase breakdown by time, question type analysis, information yield score, rapport score, and a cited narrative assessment with specific examples from the session transcript.

The scenarios

A growing scenario library. Four flagship subjects.

Every scenario comes with a structured knowledge graph - facts the subject knows, facts they will only reveal under the right conditions, and facts they will not give up without an evidence challenge. The interview score is a direct measure of how much of that knowledge the officer managed to elicit, and how they did it.

PEACE - Engage and Account

The Cooperative Witness

Scenario 1 - Foundation level

A young person who witnessed a street robbery. Nervous, easily led, prone to speculation. The scenario tests whether the officer can build rapport quickly, use open questions to elicit a structured account, and avoid contaminating the witness's memory with suggestion or leading language. Deceptively difficult for officers new to PEACE discipline.

Open questioning Rapport building Memory contamination Account elicitation
PEACE - Account, Clarify and Challenge

The Reluctant Witness

Scenario 2 - Intermediate

A bystander who saw more than they are letting on. Not hostile, but afraid of involvement. The AI subject shuts down in response to pressure and responds only to patience and a non-confrontational approach. The scenario tests engagement technique, silence management, and the officer's ability to sustain rapport without rewarding evasion.

Engagement technique Silence management Non-confrontational challenge
PEACE - Account, Clarify, Challenge and Closure

The Evasive Suspect

Scenario 3 - Advanced

Articulate, well-prepared, experienced with police interviews. The AI suspect deflects, qualifies, and introduces counter-narratives. Evidence must be introduced at the right moment - too early and it is absorbed; too late and the officer has lost the thread. The scenario tests structured evidence challenge, timeline probing, and no-comment management.

Evidence challenge Timeline structure No-comment handling Deflection management
PEACE - Full framework under pressure

The Hostile Suspect

Scenario 4 - Expert

Verbally combative, personally offensive, testing the officer's professional composure at every exchange. The AI subject escalates in direct response to any loss of control from the officer. The scenario tests de-escalation under sustained pressure, maintaining the interview structure when the subject is trying to derail it, and professional closure regardless of outcome.

De-escalation Composure under pressure Structured persistence Professional closure
Council enforcement scenarios also available
ASB Warning Notice Fly-tipping Interview PSPO Breach CPN Compliance Visit Cuckooing - Victim Interview
The output

The Elicit Assessment Report

Every completed session generates an Elicit Assessment Report - a structured, objective record of the officer's performance across the full PEACE framework. Not a pass or fail. A forensic breakdown of what happened, when, and how well.

The report is written for two audiences simultaneously: the officer, who needs specific, actionable feedback; and their supervisor, who needs a comparable, objective basis for development planning and PIP progression evidence.

The investigating officer

Receives specific, timestamped feedback on each PEACE phase, with examples drawn from the transcript. Knows exactly which questions worked, which contaminated the account, and where the information yield was lost.

The detective sergeant or supervisor

Receives comparable, objective data across their whole team. Can identify the officers who are ready to progress and the ones who need structured support - without relying on impression or anecdote.

The L&D and force training team

Gets aggregate performance data across scenarios and PIP levels. Can evidence training activity, track improvement over time, and demonstrate a systematic approach to interview quality development for HMICFRS and the College of Policing.

Elicit Assessment Report - Sample Complete
Preparation and planning
82
Engage and explain
76
Account - free recall elicitation
68
Clarify and challenge
54
Closure and evaluation
41
Strong free recall elicitation in turns 4-9. Officer used TED prompts consistently and avoided interrupting the account before it was complete
Seven closed questions identified in the clarification phase; three introduced information the witness had not volunteered - potential contamination risk flagged
Closure phase under-developed: no summary back to the witness, no opportunity to add anything, interview ended abruptly at 29:12
Assessment engine recommendation: Officer demonstrates solid engagement and account elicitation technique. Primary development area is clarification discipline - specifically the shift from open to closed questioning before the free account is complete. Closure phase requires dedicated practice. Recommend one further cooperative witness session before progression to reluctant witness level.
Frameworks

Assessed against the standards your force already uses

Every Elicit scenario, question classification, and report dimension is mapped to frameworks the College of Policing, HMICFRS, and your force's own training curriculum already recognise. There is no proprietary scoring system to explain or justify.

PEACE
Investigative Interview Framework

The College of Policing's PEACE model is the mandated framework for investigative interviewing across all 43 territorial forces. Elicit maps every session to each phase, with time-in-phase tracking and phase-specific scoring.

  • Preparation and planning
  • Engage and explain
  • Account - free recall, clarify, challenge
  • Closure
  • Evaluation
PIP
Professionalising Investigation Programme

The PIP framework sets competency standards for investigators at Tier 1 (volume crime), Tier 2 (serious and complex), and Tier 3 (major and critical). Elicit scenarios and reports are aligned to PIP tier requirements.

  • Tier 1 - volume crime investigators (Cooperative Witness)
  • Tier 2 - serious crime investigators (Evasive and Reluctant scenarios)
  • Tier 3 - major crime investigators (Hostile Suspect)
  • Evidence suitable for PIP portfolio and progression documentation
ORBIT
Rapport and Engagement Framework

Rapport is one of the most significant variables in interview outcome. Elicit measures rapport using the ORBIT framework across five dimensions, producing a rapport trajectory across the session and a score cited to specific exchanges.

  • Overview - orientation and scene-setting
  • Rapport - quality of relationship established
  • Basic rules - framework compliance and explanation
  • Introduction - transition to the account
  • Topic handling - responsiveness and follow-through
For training leads

The questions you will need to answer

When HMICFRS asks about interview quality, or a detective superintendent asks why two officers at the same PIP level perform so differently, Elicit gives you something concrete to show.

HMICFRS inspection

"How do you assess the quality of investigative interviewing across your force?"

The Elicit Assessment Report constitutes an objective, comparable, session-by-session record of each officer's PEACE framework application. No other training method produces this record. Aggregate data across your force gives inspectors the systematic approach they are looking for.

Detective superintendent

"How do I know which of my team needs development before the next major inquiry?"

The supervisor dashboard shows every officer's session history, PEACE phase scores, and information yield across scenarios. You can identify the officers who are ready and the ones who need targeted support - based on data, not impression.

Force L&D / training budget

"What is the cost model and how does it compare to our current programme?"

Elicit sessions are available on demand, with no actor fees, no scheduling overhead, and no venue costs. At scale, Elicit replaces the most expensive element of your current provision while producing a level of assessment data that role-play cannot match. Contact us for force-level pricing.

See Elicit demonstrated

We run live demonstrations for training leads, detective superintendents, and force L&D teams. The demonstration covers a complete officer session from briefing to assessment report, with a discussion of how Elicit fits your current training architecture and PIP framework.