Criminology Lecture: "Retrieving Cognitive Evidence"

As the police artist for the San Jose Police Department Gil Zamora interviewed over 3,000 eyewitnesses and was instrumental in solving some of the most heinous crimes in the Bay Area. In 2017 he developed a course on forensic eyewitness interviews based on his mindful interview technique.

Law enforcement personnel often speak with cooperative eyewitnesses about criminal events and sadly many of these communications are fraught with memory contamination and biased interview tactics that result in unreliable statements. Examining the efficacy of eyewitness interviews will allow agencies to measure the reliability of cognitive evidence and improve their interview retrieval techniques. 

The presentation will demonstrate the malleability of eyewitness memory and introduce the mindful interview method that ensures eyewitness evidence is more reliable.