Professor Dave Walsh

Dave joined the Law School at DMU in 2018, He specializes in the teaching and research pertaining to criminal investigation and particularly the investigative interviewing of victims, witnesses and suspects around the world .

He welcomes enquiries from those interested in undertaking PhD research in this area  

He has published extensively in these areas. He was a founding member of the International Investigative Interviewing Research group (see www.iiirg.org). Among his many current projects include being Action Chair of  a major international project involving 300+ researchers from 56 countries  (see COST action CA22128- ImpleMendez at https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA22128/  and Implemendez.EU)  

He is also working with the police nationally and internationally in this  area  

COST action CA 22128 -ImpleMendez

International Investigative Interviewing Research Group

Published Journal articles

Shawyer, A. & Walsh, D. (2007). Fraud and PEACE: Investigative Interviewing and Fraud Investigation Crime Prevention and Community Safety. 9, 102-117.

Walsh, D. & Milne, R. (2007) Giving PEACE a Chance. Public Administration .Vol 85 No2 525-540.

Walsh, D. & Milne, R. (2008) Keeping the PEACE? A study of investigative interviewing practices in the public sector. Legal and Criminological Psychology. 13 39-57.

Walsh, D. & Oxburgh, G. (2008) Investigative interviewing of suspects: Historical and contemporary developments in research. British Psychological Society: Forensic Update. 92 Winter 2007/2008 41-45.

Walsh, D. & Bull, R. (2010a). Interviewing suspects of fraud: An analysis of interviewing skills. Journal of Psychiatry and Law, 38, 99-135

Walsh, D. & Bull, R. (2010b). The interviewing of suspects by non-police agencies: What's effective? What is effective! Legal and Criminological Psychology, 15, 305-321

Walsh, D. & Bull, R. (2010c). Know your rights? A study comparing fraud investigators approaches to informing suspects of their rights and ensuring they are understood and observed. Cambrian Law Review, 41, 24-39.

Oxburgh, G.E., Walsh, D., & Milne, R. (2011a). The importance of applied research in investigative interviewing: A real-life perspective. Editorial to the special edition of the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 8, 105-109.

Walsh, D. & Bull, R. (2011b). Benefit fraud investigative interviewing: A self-report study of investigation professionals’ beliefs concerning practice. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 8, 131-148.

Walsh, D. & Bull, R. (2011c). Still giving PEACE a Chance? An examination of the beliefs, attitudes and perceptions of benefit fraud investigation professionals Social Psychology Review, 13, 1-15

Walsh, D. & Bull, R. (2012a) How do interviewers attempt to overcome suspects’ denials? Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, 19, 151-168.

Walsh, D. & Bull, R. (2012b). Examining rapport in investigative interviews with suspects: Does its building and maintenance work? Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 27, 73-84.

Walsh, D., King, M, & Neville, A. (2012c) Formulating future collaborative research agendas for criminal investigation. Investigative Interviewing: Research and Practice.

Walsh, D. (2013) Supervisory and self-evaluation of investigative interviewing performance, Investigative Interviewing: Research and Practice, 5, 113

Walsh, D. & Bull, R. (2015). The association between evidence disclosure, questioning strategies, interview skills, and interview outcomes, Psychology, Crime and Law.21, 661-680.

Walsh, D., Milne, R., & Bull, R. (2016) One way or another? Investigators’ beliefs concerning evidence disclosure in interviews with suspects in England and Wales. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 31, 127-140

Dando, C., Walsh, D., & Brierley, R., (2016). The psychology of coercion in human trafficking. Public Library of Science 1, 11, 1-13

Areh, I., Walsh, D., & Bull, R. (2017). Police interrogation in Slovenia. Psychology, Crime and Law, 22, 405-419

Minhas, R., Walsh, D., & Bull, R. (2017). The development of the IIPSS scale, measuring prejudice in interviews. Police Practice and Research, 18, 132-145

Walsh, D., King, M. & Griffiths, A. (2017). An examination of the self-evaluation of performance in investigative interviews. Psychology, Crime and Law, 23, 647-665

Pajon Moreno, L., & Walsh, D. (2017). Gender differences in eyewitness testimony in cases of violent and non-violent criminal incidents. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law ,24, 923-935 https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2017.1327313

Childs, C. & Walsh, D. (2017).  Rapport strategies in interviews with children. Journal of Pragmatics, 121, 188-201, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2017.10.013

Minhas, R. & Walsh, D., & Bull, R. (2017) Muslim suspects, their lawyers, and the police: Differing perspectives of interviews? Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism,12, 158-174 10.1080/18335330.2017.1355103

Walsh, D., Ormerod, T., & Dando, C. (2018). Triage decision making by welfare fraud investigators. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 7, 82-91. doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2018.01.002

Kim, J., Walsh, D., Bull, R. & Bergstrom, H. (2018) Planning ahead? Factors influencing investigators’ attitudes towards planning for interviews with suspects. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 33, 158-174 10.1007/s11896-017-9243-z.1007/s11896-017-9243-z7--z

Cayli, B., Hodgson, P., & Walsh, D. (2018). The rule of law and social unrest: Exploring violence in social protests and riots. Comparative Sociology, 17, 159-186

https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15691330-12341455

Griffiths, A., & Walsh, D. (2018). Investigators’ reflective portfolios: A reflection of their actual investigation skills?  Psychology, Crime and Law,24, 433-450

https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2017.1390115

Minhas, R. & Walsh, D. (2018) Influence of racial stereotypes on investigative decision-making in criminal investigations: A qualitative comparative analysis, Cogent Social Sciences, 4, 1-18 1538588 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2018.1538588

Childs, C. & Walsh, D. (2018). Paradoxical invitations: challenges in soliciting more information from child witnesses. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 51, 363-378 https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2018.1524561

Wilson, L., & Walsh, D. (2019). Striving for impartiality: Emotional bias in interpreter-assisted investigations. Pragmatics and society, 10, 12-151. DOI: 10.1075/ps.00018.wil

Pajon, L. & Walsh, D. (2020) Towards a model of the criminal investigation of human trafficking crimes. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 14, 493–511, https://doi-org.proxy.library.dmu.ac.uk/10.1093/police/pay031

Denault, V., Plusquellec, P., Jupe, L. M., St-Yves, M., Dunbar, N. E., Hartwig, M., Walsh, D…van Koppen, P. J. (2020). The analysis of nonverbal communication: The dangers of pseudoscience in security and justice contexts. Anuario de Psicología Jurídica, 30, 1-2. doi: 10.5093/apj2019a9.

Walsh, D., Oxburgh, G., & Amurun, T. (2020) Interpreter-Assisted Interviews: Examining Investigators’ and Interpreters’ Views on Their Practice. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 35, 318-27 DOI: 10.1007/s11896-020-09366-2

Areh, I, & Walsh, D. (2020), Own-Gender bias may affect eyewitness accuracy of perpetrators’ personal descriptions. Journal of Criminalistics and Criminology,4, 247-256. 

Nunan, J., Stanier, I., Milne, R., Shawyer, A., & Walsh, D. (2020). Eliciting human intelligence: Police source handlers’ perceptions and experiences of rapport during CHIS interactions. Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, 27, 511-537 doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2020.1734978 

Baker-Eck, B., Bull, R., & Walsh, D. (2020). Investigative empathy: A strength scale of empathy based on European police perspectives. Psychiatry, Psychology, & Law, 27, 412-427. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2020.1751333 

Nunan, J., Stanier, I., Milne, R., Shawyer, A., & Walsh, D. (2020) Source handler perceptions of the interviewing processes employed with informants. Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, 15, 244-262. https://doi.org/10.1080/18335330.2020.182006 

Nunan, J., Stanier, I., Milne, R., Shawyer, A., Walsh, D. (2020) Source handler telephone interactions with Covert Human Intelligence Sources: An exploration of question types and intelligence yield. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34, 1473-1484 dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.3726 

Baker-Eck, B., Bull, R., & Walsh, D. (2021). Investigative empathy: Five types of cognitive empathy in a field study of investigative interviews with suspects of sexual offences. Investigative Interviewing: Research and Practice, 11, 28-39 

Minhas, R. & Walsh, D. (2021). Prejudicial stereotyping and police interviewing practices in England: An exploration of legal representatives’ perceptions. Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, 16, 267-282. DoI: 10.1080/18335330.2021.1889016 

Minhas, R., & Walsh, D. (2021) The role of prejudicial stereotypes in the formation of suspicion: an examination of operational procedures into stop and search practices. International Journal of Police Science and Management,23, 293-305, 10.1177/14613557211016499 

Fenia, F., Blades, M., & Walsh, D. (2021) The effect of the number of interviewers on children’s testimonies. Psychology, Crime & Law. 28, 372-389. 10.1080/1068316X.2021.1909017.  

Izotovas, A., Kelly, C. E., & Walsh, D. (2021). The Domains of PEACE: Examining interviews with suspected sex offenders. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 36, 743-757. 10.1007/s11896-021-09465-8 

Brewster, B., Robinson, G., Silverman B., & Walsh, D. (2021). Covid-19 and Child Criminal Exploitation in the UK: Implications of the Pandemic for County Lines. Trends in Organized Crime. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-021-09442-x 

Nunan, J., Stanier, I., Milne, R., Shawyer, A., Walsh, D., & May, B. (2022). The impact of rapport on intelligence yield: Police source handler telephone interactions with covert human intelligence sources. Psychiatry, Psychology, & Law.29, 1-19 DOI:10.1080/13218719.2020.1784807 

Walsh, D., Pajon, L., Lawson, K., Hafeez, K., Heath, M., & Court N. (2022). Increased risks of labor exploitation in the UK following Brexit and the Covid-9 pandemic:  Perspectives of the agri-food and construction sectors, Journal of Human Trafficking. 1-16 DOI: 10.1080/23322705.2022.2079063 

Walsh, D., Areh, I., Minhas, R., & Menzies, S-L (2023).  When law enforcement interview witnesses and write their statements. Police Practice and Research. 3, 346-367 

https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2022.2116436 

Pajón, L., & Walsh, D. (2023).  The importance of multi-agency collaborations during human trafficking criminal investigations. Policing and Society, 33(3), 296-314 

DOI: 10.1080/10439463.2022.2106984 

Walsh, D., Brooks, G., Naka, M. Oxburgh, G., & Kyo, A. (2024).  Forensic interviews conducted with autistic adults in Japan: A review of the literature and directions for future research. Psychiatry, Psychology & Law. 31, 216-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2023.2192255. 

Orthey, R, Satchell, L., Rechdan, J., Kyo, A., & Walsh, D., (2024).  Applications of Legal Psychology in Japan: Current practice, research knowledge, and future directions. Collabra: Psychology.10(1). 1-24 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.115298 

https://online.ucpress.edu/collabra/article/10/1/115298/200396/Applications-of-Legal-Psychology-in-Japan-Current 

Lawson, K., & Walsh, D., (2024) Corporate non-compliance with section 54 Modern Slavery Act 2015: Nobody’s kicking our ass. Journal of Modern Slavery: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of Human Trafficking Solutions 9(2) 1-31.  

MacLeod, N., Oxburgh, G., Walsh, D., Farrugia, L., & Nash, A. (in press) Politeness, face, and rapport-building in remote and face-to-face investigative interviews with witnesses. To appear in International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law. 

Pajon, L., & Walsh, D. (2025). Investigating Organised Human Trafficking Crimes: Case studies of police investigations in England, Police Practice and Research, 26,  136-152.  https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2024.2406841  

 Books and book chapters

Walsh, D. & Bull, R (2013) The investigation and investigative interviewing of benefit fraud suspects in the UK: Historical and contemporary perspectives. In B.S. Cooper, D. Griesel, & M. Ternes (eds.) Applied issues in investigative interviewing. Eyewitness memory and credibility assessment (pp 33-58). New York: Springer.  

Brooks, G., Walsh, D., & Lewis, C. (2013). Preventing corruption: Investigation, enforcement and governance. Palgrave Macmillan

Walsh, D. & van der Steen, K (2014) Strategic and tactical disclosing of evidence in interviews with suspects: Implications for the Belgian police. In R. Schellingen, R. and N. Scholton (eds) Investigative interviewing in Belgium (pp. 183-198). Belgium: Kluwer

Walsh, D., O’Callaghan, S. & Milne, R. (2016). Police interrogation in the USA. In D. Farrington, & A. Kapardis (Eds.) The psychology of crime, policing and the courts (pp. 119-135). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

Walsh, D., Oxburgh, G., Redlich, A., & Myklebust, T. (editors) (2015) International developments in investigative interviewing and interrogations, Volumes I (Witnesses and Victims) & II (Suspects). London: Routledge

Evans, J., Shaffer, S., & Walsh, D. (2020). Interpreters in investigative interviewing contexts. In R. Bull, & I. Blandon- Gitlin (Eds.) The Routledge international Handbook of Legal and Investigative Psychology (pp. 133-148). Routledge: London    

Wilson, L., & Walsh, D. (2019). Striving for impartiality: Conflicts of role, trust and emotion in interpreter-assisted police interviews. In L. Filipovic (ed.) Police Interviews: Communications challenges and solutions. (pp. 122-149) John Benjamins. 

Walsh, D., & Marques, P.B. (2022). Is confession really necessary? The use of effective interviewing techniques to maximise disclosure from suspects. In P.B. Marques & M. Paulino (eds.) Police psychology: New trends in forensic science (pp. 357-380). Academic Press.  

Fico, J. & Walsh, D. (2023). Investigative interviews conducted by Forensic Accounting and Auditing Professionals. In N.T. Dorata, R. C Jones, J. Mensche, and M.M Ulrich. The Past, Present, and Future of Accountancy Education and Professions (pp. 66-81). IGI Global 

 Halley, J., Walsh, D., Myklebust, T., Bjerknes, O.T. (2023). Structured models of interviewing in G. Oxburgh, M. Fallon, M. Hartwig, & T. Myklebust .In Interviewing and interrogation: A review of the research and practice since World War II (pp. 257-282). TOEP. 

Walsh, D. & Bull, R. (2024). From interrogation to investigative interviewing of suspects in custody. In Y. Daly (editor) (pp. 93-116). Police Custody in Ireland  

St-Yves, M., Griffith, A., Walsh, D., & Courvoisier, J., (2024) La préparation d'un interrogatoire (pp. 43-51) 

M. St-Yves, M., Oleszkiewicz, S., Griffiths, A., Taylor, P., Walsh, D., & Courvoisier., J. (2024) Établir un rapport et recueillir des renseignements (pp. 65-78)  

M. St-Yves, M., Griffiths, A., & Walsh, D. (2024) Conclure l'interrogatoire  (pp131-133).  

(All these three above chapters in M. St-Yves (Editor). L'interrogatoire: d'un art à une science (The interrogation: The Art and the science). Manuel des meilleures pratiques internationales pour l'audition d'un suspect. Thomson Reuters )

Walsh, D., Bull, R., and Areh, I. (editors) (2025). The Routledge International Handbook of Investigative Interviewing and Interrogation. Routledge.   

Areh, I. Walsh, D., Bull, R., (2025). Police Questioning: From ‘Common Sense’ to Ethics, Science, and Global Principles. In Walsh, D., Bull, R., and Areh, I. (editors) (2025). The Routledge International Handbook of Investigative Interviewing and Interrogation (pp.1-6). Routledge 

Walsh, D., Areh, I., Bull R. (2025). Towards a global understanding of what is effective interviewing for investigations and information gathering. In Walsh, D., Bull, R., and Areh, I. (editors) (2024). The Routledge International Handbook of Investigative Interviewing and Interrogation (pp. 494-500). Routledge 

Walsh, D., Areh, I., Soldinho, V. (2025). International perspective on interviewing adult complainants of sexual assault.  In R. Bull and W. O'Donoghue (2025). Adult complainants of sexual assault.  

 Brewster, B., Robinson, G., Silverman, B, & Walsh, D. (2021) Child Criminal Exploitation and County Lines drug distribution: Understanding the impact of Covid-19.   

Gardner, A., Blair, K., Pajon, L., Burcu, O., Phelan, K., Gray, C., Stirk, M., S. & Walsh, D. (2022). Fashioning a beautiful future? Supporting workers and addressing labour exploitation in Leicester’s textile and garment industry 

Investigative interviewing of victims, witnesses and suspects

Policing of Modern Slavery 

Businesses' responses to Modern slavery legislation

Policing of Serious and Organised Crime  

Criminal Investigation

Modern Slavery

PhD, MSc, MBA, FHEA

Global Professor in Criminology. Leuven (October 2020; November 2023)

Innovative approaches to  countering serious and organised crime 

 Examining the interviewing of witnesses and suspects following the Covid-19 pandemic 

Examining how the business sector have responded to Modern Slavery legislation

Developing the investigative skills of financial accountants and auditors 

Examining how countries have responded to the UN Declaratiion (2021) known now as the Mendez principles that shows the futility of coercive and htile approaches to police questioning and the benefots of rapport bae , ethical and human methods that respect international legal norms 

Investigative Interviewing in non-police agencies: 2nd International Investigative Interviewing Conference: University of Portsmouth. 3-7th July 2006

Interviewing benefit fraud suspects: European Investigative Interviewing Conference: University of Teesside 2nd-3rd April 2007

What’s effective in fraud interviews with suspects? British Psychological Society’s Division of Forensic Psychology, University of York. 23rd- 25th July 2007

Interviewing suspects: What’s effective? What is effective! Poster presented at the 3rd International Investigative Interviewing Conference, Quebec. 16-18th June 2008.

Experiencing Investigative Interviews: Attitudes, Perceptions, Reality. 18th Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law, Maastricht University, 2-5 July 2008

Power talks in interviews with suspects. 2nd Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, University of Teesside, 14-16th April 2009

Eliciting true confessions 19th Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law, Sorrento, 2nd-5th September 2009.

Does collaboration affect the construction of eyewitness remembering. 19th Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law, Sorrento, 2nd-5th September 2009.

Examining the effects of tactics, attitudes, weight of evidence, and skills in interviews with suspects. 20th Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law, Gothenburg 15th -18th June. 2010

Tactics and confessions 3rd Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, Stavern, Norway 21st -24th June, 2010.

Exploring rapport in interviews with benefit fraud suspects: Building and maintenance works! 4th International Investigative Interviewing Conference. Brussels 29th -1st July 2010.

Is there an association between rapport building and maintenance and the interview outcome? 4th Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, Dundee, 1st -3rd June 2011.

Interrogating suspects in the United States: Introducing a field study. 21st Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law, Nicosia, 13-16th April 2012.

Questioning and evidence disclosure; The QED of investigative interviewing? 5th Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, Toronto 28-31st May 2012

One way or another: Beliefs of investigators concerning evidence disclosure in interviews. 6th Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, July 2013

Evidence disclosure strategies in interviews with suspects. American Psychology and Law Society Conference, New Orleans, March 2014

Case complexity determines the hypothesis testing strategy used by experienced investigators American Psychology and Law Society Conference, New Orleans, March 2014

Getting better all the time? 7th Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group. Lausanne, Switzerland

Rapport building with children who allege sexual abuse: 7th Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, Lausanne, Switzerland. 2014

Interviewing children: Overcoming barriers to revelation with empathy and rapport. American Psychology and Law Society Conference, San Diego, March 2015.

Information loss between criminal event and witness statement. 9th Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group. London: June 2016.

Examining interviews with suspected sex offenders. 26th Conference of European Association of Psychology and Law Mechelen; 2017

Exploring tactics and strategies of interviewers and interviewees American Psychology and Law Society Conference, Memphis, March,2018

Spotting the signs of modern slavery (Key note address) Modern Slavery conference Saint Mary’s University, May 2018

The Business’ Sector’s response to modern slavery (Keynote address) Modern Slavery conference Saint Mary’s University, May 2019

Studying vulnerable interviewees. (Keynote address). Annual conference of the Japanese Psychological Association. September 2019.

Contemporary and future challenges to criminal investigation. Keynote Presentation at the University of Leiden September 2020.

Developments in Investigative Interviewing.  Keynote presentation to the Finnish Police March 2021

Developing investigative interviewing: Essential building blocks. Invited talk at the University of Oslo 31st May 2022.    

Conflict and consistency between investigative interviewers and interpreters.  13th Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group. Winchester, UK. June 2022 

Interviews with Autistics Adults.  13th Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group. Winchester, UK. June 2022.  

Investigative Interviewing Techniques. Invited Speaker to Policing in Custody in Ireland. Dublin City University/Criminal Law Committee, Law Society of Ireland 29th September 2022.  

Talks to given to police and academics throughout May and June 2023 in Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovona, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland and Estonia  concering the implemention of the Mendez Principles 

Developing International Investigative Interviewing 14th Conference of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (virtual conference) 

Challenges of implementing the Mendez Principles. Keynote address 19th IAIP confernce 12-14 June 2024 Santiago Di Compostela

The Benefots of implementing Mendez Principles. Key note address  at the iiiRG confernece 19-21 June. Ottowa  

Emerald Woodward (1st Supervisor)

Sara Parr (2nd Supervisor)

Gavin Ridley (2nd Supervisor)

Jessica Gallagher (1st Supervisor)

Monty Mountford (co-Supervisor) 

Tom Bailey (2nd Supervisor) 

Recent research grants awarded

£69,830 (as Co-I) successful July 2018 Home Office: Interviewing vulnerable victims of Cybercrime (as Co-I)

£47,150 (as PI) successful December 2018; ESRC research grant. Interviews in Japan with vulnerable people

£15,660 (as PI) HEIF funding). Innovating a toolkit for businesses to identify risks of exploitations/slavery in their supply chains  

£10,000 (as PI) HEIF funding Establishing where modern slavery risks persist

£177,013 (as Co-I) ESRC funded project examining offenders’ different methods of operating county lines following the Covid-19 outbreak.

£323,453.10 (as Co-I) ESRC funded project examining the interviewing of victims, witnesses and suspects following the response by policing to Covid-19.

£15,000. (as P-I) HEIF funded Project. Examining UK business preparedness for the new immigration rules to avoid risks of labour exploitation

£80,733 (as Co-I) Successful. Leicester Garment and Textile Workers Trust. Research on Preventing Labour Exploitation in Leicester. November 2021.  

 £7,500 (as Co-I) HEIF funded project. Examining recruitment challenges in the agricultural sector following implementation of the post-Brexit immigration system. December 2022 

£4,965.54 (as sole investigator). QR funding.  DMU award. Seed funding for multi-country (Baltic, Norway and Balkans) Mendez principles implementation project January 2023  

£800,000 (as PI) European Co-operation in Science and Technology (COST) Building International Research Networks to help implement the Mendez Principles May 2023 Awarded from October 2023 to October 2027  

£3,000 DMU award (as PI) to support Joint DMU/East Midlands Police initiative combatting Serious and Organised Crime

Implementing the UN declaration on effective interviewing and information garthering  

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