Seminar Title

5-Day Mastering Interview and Interrogation for Investigators and First Responders

Dates of Events

02/22/2027 through 02/26/2027

Last Updated: 10/15/2026
Instructor(s): Stan Walters
Location: San Antonio Fire Department Training Academy - 300 S. Callaghan Road, San Antonio, TX 78227
Hotel: Hampton Inn & Suites San Antonio Lackland AFB Seaworld - 1719 Cable Ranch Road, San Antonio, TX 78245
Course Registration Fee: $550
Instructor Bio
Stan Walters
“The Lie Guy®”
Investigative Interview & Interrogation Expert
For more than four decades, Stan B. Walters has recognized and addressed the problems created by outdated investigative interviewing practices—methods that can contaminate information, weaken statement reliability, and undermine investigations.
He has helped military, law enforcement, intelligence, corrections, and special- investigations professionals improve interview performance, obtain more complete information, protect statement integrity, and conduct interviews that withstand investigative and courtroom scrutiny. His work has included programs for 32 military units, approximately 40 correctional institutions, and law enforcement organizations across the United States and internationally.
Every course he presents is audited against current peer-reviewed published scientific
research before it is delivered. His work is grounded in a simple reality: choices made
in the interview room eventually play out in a courtroom
TM.
Course Objectives
Course Overview:
No investigation can progress without information. Information that is available only by
interviewing victims, witnesses, and sources as well as the interrogation of persons of interest.
Of paramount importance is that the techniques used by the investigator must be capable of 1) collecting all the available information 2) do so without contaminating the subject’s knowledge base and 3) can discriminate between truth and deceptive statements. The simple truth is that the majority of investigators have not had the opportunity to update the skillsets necessary to be consistently successful during the interview and interrogation phase of their investigations.
Proceeding without a clear plan of action for conducting successful interviews or interrogations can easily sabotage the investigator’s case.
This course is designed to “re-tool” and “upgrade” detective and criminal investigators’ interview and interrogation methods to current forensic standards. The techniques taught have been proven to be more efficient and effective at providing the comprehensive information that’s needed for successfully clearing and prosecuting cases.
Interviewers that have registered the best success in the interview environment and keenly aware of the 3 variables.
First, they know how to conduct a true narrative-based interview. Second, they can recognize and adjust to their subject’s emotional and mental changes throughout the interview. Third, they understand that the person if front of them has a unique personal history and personality type and they adjust their interview accordingly. The Level 2 part of this course focuses on mastering those three advanced interviewing skills.

Participants will learn:
• The distinction between accusatory and information-focused interviews.
• Recognizing and managing their subjects’ negative cognitive and emotional changes that disrupt the interview.
• The best ways to maximize the information gained from victims and witnesses.
• How to avoid subject “contamination.”
• What it takes to “isolate” key topics that require follow-up.
• Dispel the numerous “deception cue” myths that can sabotage interviewers.
• Tools for spotting truthful statements versus deceptive statements.
• How to recognize and avoid fatal “confirmation bias” by the interviewer.
• How to distinguish between “persuasion” and “manipulation.”
• The difference between the four basic personality types and how they are best interviewed.
• How to create a custom “persuasive argument” that matches the person being interviewed.
• Develop a keen grasp of the concept the “Cycle of Behavior” and what them means to their investigation and their interrogations.