The investigating officer will give you the chance to describe, in your own words, what happened and why you are there. The police officer will likely ask you some specific questions to make sure they have as much information as possible for their investigation. You may see the police officer write down some notes or draw circles on a piece of paper. This is to help them remember questions they may want to ask you later.
Your statement may be videotaped, audiotaped, or both. This is because it may be used as evidence in court. You are allowed to bring along a support person with you, but it is best to ask the officer ahead of time who the right support person might be. Sometimes the person we want to have in the room with us can’t be, because they also have important information to give to the police about what happened to you.
You can also take along any notes you have to help jog your memory.
The police officer is going to ask you questions about what happened that may feel hard to answer, because they are personal and may be hard to think about. It’s okay to have lots of feelings when this is happening, or no feelings at all – everyone is different.
During this interview, you may be asked to tell the same story with the same information multiple times. The purpose of this is to make sure the police officer has a full understanding of what happened.
You should answer all questions as completely and truthfully as you can. If you do not know or cannot remember the answer to a question, that is totally ok and you can tell the officer that. If you are making a guess at an answer, you can tell the officer that too. It is best not to try to fill in blanks if you do not know the answer.