Effective interviewing is a basic skill and should be taught to all police officers and not to elite units, an expert witness told the Morris tribunal by satellite video link.
Mary Schollum, an analyst and researcher with New Zealand Police, told the tribunal she had just completed a review of investigative interviewing, covering international good practice and the current situation in New Zealand.
As part of the study, Ms Schollum, who has worked with New Zealand Police since 1990, liaised with Det Chief Insp Gary Shaw, a British police officer who also gave evidence to the tribunal.
Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Frederick Morris asked Ms Schollum about the Peace method used by British police forces of "training of rank-and-file officers as opposed to having an elite body of investigators that would be brought in where a serious crime is investigated".
Ms Schollum said that because New Zealand Police could do up to two million interviews a year "all officers need to be able to do it well".
It would be "totally impractical" to have a small body of elite interviewers who had to travel to small out-of-the-way places, when interviewing was "a core activity for them and they need to do it well".
Ms Schollum said her philosophy on how the justice system and police force should operate was encapsulated in a quote from the appeals court judge, Mr Justice Grant Hammond, who said there was "a critical responsibility to maintain and enhance the moral integrity of the criminal process."
"A conviction should be brought about in a publicly acceptable manner, which does not mean the judge's view of what public might think, it means getting processes up to a standard that parliament itself has required in the bill of rights and elsewhere. Courts should not be continually pressed to overlook deficient evidence in trials in the name of of an unarticulated crime control thesis."
Sgt Paul Heffernan, meanwhile, said he was unaware that a witness had made two statements to gardaí, including an allegation that he was offered a £500 bribe by Frank McBrearty snr, at the time when he led a search party to Mr McBrearty's home and arrested the Raphoe publican. The witness later withdrew the allegations.
Sgt Heffernan said he received a direction to apply for a warrant to carry out the search and arrest from the incident room running the investigation into the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron.
"Essentially we were looking for any evidence that would link Mr McBrearty to the alleged intimidation of witnesses in any shape or form," he said.
Sgt Heffernan said he spoke to Mr McBrearty snr's doctor in the driveway of his home before the arrest and "got a positive response" when he asked if Mr McBrearty snr was okay.
The tribunal adjourned until January 15th.