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: 09/10/2026
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®”
Authority on Investigative Interviewing & Reliability Analysis
Stan B. Walters is an internationally recognized authority on investigative interviewing and interrogation. For more than four decades, he has studied the science of interviews and helped investigators replace outdated assumptions with methods grounded in psychology, memory science, and behavioral research.
Walters is the developer of the Cognitive Reliability Framework™, a modern approach to diagnosing reliability in high-stakes interviews and evaluating statements under investigative and courtroom scrutiny.
Every course Walters presents is audited against current peer-reviewed published scientific research before it is delivered. His work emphasizes evidence-based interviewing, statement reliability, contamination control, false-confession prevention, and courtroom-defensible investigative practices.
With more than four decades of real-world experience, Walters is trusted by practitioners operating in law enforcement, military, and intelligence environments. He has presented investigative interviewing and interrogation programs on 23 U.S. military installations worldwide, where his methods have been applied in operational and battlefield interview environments.
Walters is the author of From First Contact to Final Question: An Introduction to EvidenceBased Interview and Interrogation Techniques, an interactive digital guide that integrates written instruction with embedded video, as well as numerous professional articles on investigative interviewing, statement reliability, false confessions, contamination, and courtroom-defensible practices. He is also the co-author of three peer-reviewed scientific
papers on credibility and investigative interviewing.
His earlier books include Principles of Kinesic Interview and Interrogation and The Truth About Lying, which was published in seven languages.
Through The Lie Guy® YouTube channel, Walters regularly examines current research, challenges outdated interviewing practices, and translates complex findings into practical guidance for investigators.
Walters has conducted extensive research on credibility assessment and maintains a unique archive of more than 1,500 videotaped interviews with incarcerated offenders, recorded in 40 correctional institutions across the United States.
His work focuses on improving the reliability and defensibility of investigative interviews.
Choices made in the interview room eventually play out in a courtroom
“The Lie Guy®”
Authority on Investigative Interviewing & Reliability Analysis
Stan B. Walters is an internationally recognized authority on investigative interviewing and interrogation. For more than four decades, he has studied the science of interviews and helped investigators replace outdated assumptions with methods grounded in psychology, memory science, and behavioral research.
Walters is the developer of the Cognitive Reliability Framework™, a modern approach to diagnosing reliability in high-stakes interviews and evaluating statements under investigative and courtroom scrutiny.
Every course Walters presents is audited against current peer-reviewed published scientific research before it is delivered. His work emphasizes evidence-based interviewing, statement reliability, contamination control, false-confession prevention, and courtroom-defensible investigative practices.
With more than four decades of real-world experience, Walters is trusted by practitioners operating in law enforcement, military, and intelligence environments. He has presented investigative interviewing and interrogation programs on 23 U.S. military installations worldwide, where his methods have been applied in operational and battlefield interview environments.
Walters is the author of From First Contact to Final Question: An Introduction to EvidenceBased Interview and Interrogation Techniques, an interactive digital guide that integrates written instruction with embedded video, as well as numerous professional articles on investigative interviewing, statement reliability, false confessions, contamination, and courtroom-defensible practices. He is also the co-author of three peer-reviewed scientific
papers on credibility and investigative interviewing.
His earlier books include Principles of Kinesic Interview and Interrogation and The Truth About Lying, which was published in seven languages.
Through The Lie Guy® YouTube channel, Walters regularly examines current research, challenges outdated interviewing practices, and translates complex findings into practical guidance for investigators.
Walters has conducted extensive research on credibility assessment and maintains a unique archive of more than 1,500 videotaped interviews with incarcerated offenders, recorded in 40 correctional institutions across the United States.
His work focuses on improving the reliability and defensibility of investigative interviews.
Choices made in the interview room eventually play out in a courtroom
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.
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.