What Can You Gain From Interviewing a Police Officer?

What are the benefits of using NetWatch for interviewing?

Interviewing police officers who attended the scene of an incident acts as an invaluable source of information which is often overlooked. We have found that interviewing a police officer provides numerous advantages, which is not limited to obtaining an unbiased factual account and extra evidence. By collaborating with officers who are typically the first to arrive at the scene of an incident, firsthand knowledge can be obtained which allows you to provide better outcomes to policyholders and claimants.

Similarly, we’ve found that officer’s testimonies and signed statements tend to carry significant weight which can serve as vital evidence in determining liability. Their firsthand observations, professional judgment, and expertise can strengthen a claim and facilitate a fair and expedited resolution by allowing you to assess the incident, determine liability, and process the claim promptly. This not only saves time and resources for claim handlers but ensures a fair and efficient resolution too.

Below are just a couple of recent examples where interviewing an officer revealed previously unknown information to insurers.

Interviewing officers for road traffic collisions

As our statement taking lead I recently interviewed the attending officers of an incident which led to a pedestrian being taken to hospital with serious, life-changing injuries following a road traffic collision with a vehicle. By interviewing the officer I was able to find out that the pedestrian was highly intoxicated at the time of the incident, and they fell from the pavement into the carriageway, into the path of the insured driver.

Multiple officers who attended as emergency responders were also interviewed to obtain an accurate version of events. The officers disclosed details of the parties involved, witness accounts, as well as details surrounding the incident circumstances and the outcome of the resultant criminal proceedings. Notably, it was established that the pedestrian was accompanied by a family member when the incident occurred, and they stated the pedestrian was entirely to blame for the incident!

Interestingly, the officers had also interacted with the pedestrian on several occasions following the incident and they were able to disclose details of the pedestrian’s subsequent activities, despite making a claim for serious personal injury. It is therefore clear that officers often possess firsthand knowledge of an incident which is not always detailed in a collision report. On occasions, a collision report may not even be available at all and interviewing the attending officers is the only way to get this sort of information.

Interviewing officers for criminal cases

In another instance, an officer interview was carried out in relation to suspicious activity surrounding the theft of a motor vehicle and its contents. The interview – or precognition, as it is commonly referred to in Scotland, allowed us to establish that the insured vehicle owner was not involved in the theft in any manner. The officer provided detailed reasoning for the steps taken in the criminal investigation and elaborated that other thefts of similar vehicle types were committed over the same period, following the same MO. This alone is information that is not disclosed in a crime report.

How do you instruct NetWatch?

As you may well be aware – arranging interviews with police officers can be extremely time consuming, given that consent from the force and the attending officer is required, along with a payment for the officer’s time. Following receipt of a police report from NetWatch’s Rapid Police Reports system, we are easily able to make interview requests for you. There is no longer any need for you to write to the police, wait to hear back from them, establish how each force requires payment, for you to then pass the details of the incident to an investigator. NetWatch’s highly trained statement taking team can arrange, plan, and carry out the interviews in house with ease via our Rapid Police Reports system.

Contact us now or download the service specification below if you are interested in learning more about NetWatch Global’s police officer interviewing service