SAI - AVIATION & MARINE INCIDENTS
SAI for Aviation & Marine Incidents
During 2021, the SAI was developed for use in the investigation of aviation incidents and has been applied across a number of incidents.
It takes the form of a standardised protocol of clear instructions, retrieval facilitation techniques, and open questions that guide witnesses through the process of producing their own statement without the need for a trained interviewer to be present. It is therefore ideal for use when restricted resources mean that a traditional interview is not possible.
Why was the SAI developed?
The SAI was originally developed to address the serious challenge faced by investigators when an incident occurs for which there are numerous eyewitnesses.
To facilitate the recollection and reporting of memories, the two most effective components of the Cognitive Interview are used; Mental Reinstatement of Context and Report Everything. Further sections of the SAI© require witnesses to provide as much detail as possible about the appearance of the perpetrator(s), vehicle(s), and other relevant persons, such as other potential witnesses. Non-leading cues are provided in these sections to facilitate recollection. Witnesses are also asked to generate a sketch the general layout of the scene including positions of themselves in relation to other persons present (perpetrators and other witnesses). Instructions throughout request that witnesses complete the SAI© alone and provide the most complete and accurate account possible while avoiding guessing.
Completing an SAI© not only provides investigating officers with useful information, but helps strengthen and preserve the witness’s memory, thus preventing against forgetting and protecting against exposure to potentially misleading post-event information. This is because the act of retrieval enhances the subsequent retention and recall of information. This effect is proposed to occur, at least in part, due to the elaboration and activation of memory traces that can result when retrieval processes are engaged during remembering. Retrieval attempts can also facilitate subsequent remembering by creating different retrieval routes to access the originally encoded information. An early recall attempt can therefore increase the activation level of items of information in memory as well as the associations between them.
Having a ‘strong’ memory for an event offers some protection against exposure to misleading post-event information as people are more likely to notice discrepancies between their original memories for the event and any post-event information received. Research has shown that witnesses who complete an SAI© are less suggestible when face with items of misleading post-event information, or leading questions.
Studies reveal a 42% incease in valuable detail when using the SAI compared to a free recall interview.
How does the SAI work?
How does the SAI work? The SAI is a protocol of instructions and questions, based upon well-established cognitive theories of remembering, that support eyewitnesses when recollecting and recording their memories of an incident.
To facilitate the recollection and reporting of memories, the two most effective components of the Cognitive Interview are used; Mental Reinstatement of Context and Report Everything. Further sections of the SAI© require witnesses to provide as much detail as possible about the appearance of the perpetrator(s), vehicle(s), and other relevant persons, such as other potential witnesses. Non-leading cues are provided in these sections to facilitate recollection. Witnesses are also asked to generate a sketch the general layout of the scene including positions of themselves in relation to other persons present (perpetrators and other witnesses). Instructions throughout request that witnesses complete the SAI© alone and provide the most complete and accurate account possible while avoiding guessing.
Completing an SAI© not only provides investigating officers with useful information, but helps strengthen and preserve the witness’s memory, thus preventing against forgetting and protecting against exposure to potentially misleading post-event information. This is because the act of retrieval enhances the subsequent retention and recall of information. This effect is proposed to occur, at least in part, due to the elaboration and activation of memory traces that can result when retrieval processes are engaged during remembering. Retrieval attempts can also facilitate subsequent remembering by creating different retrieval routes to access the originally encoded information. An early recall attempt can therefore increase the activation level of items of information in memory as well as the associations between them.
Having a ‘strong’ memory for an event offers some protection against exposure to misleading post-event information as people are more likely to notice discrepancies between their original memories for the event and any post-event information received. Research has shown that witnesses who complete an SAI© are less suggestible when face with items of misleading post-event information, or leading questions.
SAI distributed to witness at the scene or shortly afterwards
Witnesses complete the SAI independently using proven psychological cues & tools
The act of completing a Self Administered Interview is proven to protect memory
Officers review the completed SAI
Key research findings
In early tests of the SAI, mock witnesses (comprising a sample of community volunteers of all ages and background) viewed a simulated crime event and were required to report as much as they could about what they had seen.
Witnesses in who completed the SAI tool reported 42% more correct details than those participants who were simply asked to report what they had seen. In subsequent tests, mock witnesses who had completed the SAI tool shortly after witnessing the event provided almost 30% more correct details when interviewed after a delay than those who had not made an earlier recall attempt (Gabbert et al., 2009).
Subsequent research has replicated and extended these findings. Specifically, we have found that mock witnesses who complete an SAI after witnessing a simulated crime remember more information following a delay of one month, than do control participants (who have not completed an SAI) after a delay of one week. Furthermore, mock witnesses who complete an SAI are more resistant to the misleading effects of exposure to post-event information and produce more information in a subsequent cognitive interview (Gabbert et al.).
Ten years on, these initial findings have been replicated and extended by other labs around the world. A recent meta-analysis of studies using the SAI© has confirmed that witness accounts obtained via the SAI© result in more detailed accounts than other reporting formats, and that completing the SAI© soon after an event protects the memory of that event from forgetting and manipulation over time, leading to more detailed subsequent accounts (Horry et al., 2021).
Key Developments
NHS Marauding Terrorist Incidents
We are currently working with the NHS on adapting the Self-Administered Interview for marauding terrorist incidents.
SAI used in Aviation Incidents
In 2021 a version of the Self-Administered Interview was developed for aviation incident investigations, and used to great effect following a….
College of Policing endorse the SAI
In 2019, the College of Policing released new Authorised Professional Practice (APP) guidelines for frontline police officers on obtaining initial accounts from eyewitnesses, that includes a strategic recommendation that "Interview advisers should consider use of the Self-Administered Interview in single incidents involving high numbers of witnesses”.