Face to face with the Swedish security police in the interrogation room: The interrogation techniques, the questions asked and their efficacy

Abstract: In Sweden, one of SÄPO’s tasks is counterespionage. Once a suspect has been arrested for a crime in chapter 19 of the Criminal Code, crimes against Sweden security, they are the ones conducting the interrogations. These interrogations may be the difference between a guilty spy walking free or not. It’s also a situation where information of the extent of damages to national security as well as clues for more spies can be found. In short, interrogations are of great importance, and they are thus an important tool to protect national security. This is the first study investigating how these interrogations are carried out by SÄPO. Specifically what interrogation methods, in the form of techniques and question types, are used. The study introduces a new construct to dynamically evaluate how these methods relate to relevant information gain and the suspects assistance or resistance to help the investigator reach this goal. The results indicated that the interrogator at SÄPO mainly use accusatory techniques. In addition, they use a mix of recommended and not recommended question types. Some support was found that there’s a negative correlation between accusatory techniques and presenting evidence on the interrogation outcome. Perhaps most notable was that rapport and relationship building was only indirectly correlated to interrogation efficacy, contradicting previous research.