The CREDI Credibility Assessment Tool - Assessing Interviewee Credibility

Assessing credibility is more than judging sincerity—it’s understanding how honesty and accuracy intersect. The C.R.E.D.I. Credibility Assessment Tool, developed by Bruce Pitt-Payne, provides a structured, evidence-based method for evaluating and documenting the consistency, recall, engagement, and motives of interview accounts.

This workshop teaches participants to apply C.R.E.D.I. within scientifically-supported, information-seeking investigative interview frameworks, ensuring assessments remain objective and defensible. Participants will learn to distinguish between credibility (honesty) and reliability (accuracy), avoiding common pitfalls such as reliance on demeanour or pseudoscientific “lie detection” methods.

Through real-world examples, guided exercises, and discussion, attendees will learn how to:

• Apply each C.R.E.D.I. criterion (Consistency, Recall, Engagement, Don’t rely on Demeanour/DARVO, Interest/Incentive).
• Recognize and account for memory limitations and contamination effects.
• Integrate credibility assessment seamlessly into PEACE or other modern, evidence-based interview models.
• Evaluate information objectively, without presumption or bias.
• Document the structured professional judgement.

Who Should Attend

Investigators, police and non-police interviewers, legal professionals, HR investigators, and anyone tasked with assessing the credibility of interviews.

Format

Available as a 75 minute webinar.

Participants will receive a CREDI wallet-size guide, a fillable CREDI evaluation/reporting document, and a certifcate of attendance.

Instructor

Bruce Pitt-Payne honed his skills as a major crime investigator, interview specialist and advisor over his 26-year career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He is a subject-matter-expert on investigative techniques including interviewing adults (witnesses and suspects) and children. For several years he was the Program Manager of Investigative Interviewing Training for the RCMP in British Columbia where he was instrumental in designing both the RCMP Phased Interview Framework for Witnesses and the RCMP Phased Interview Framework for Suspects (which contains components of the PEACE Model of Interviewing after an evolutionary adaptation to Canadian legal and ethical standards).

Bruce has taught witness and suspect interviewing skills both nationally and internationally. He prides himself on being able to explain complex matters in a manner that is easily understood. His teaching uses audio-visual material extensively, along with exercises based on realistic scenarios.

Since retirement from the RCMP, Bruce has dedicated his time to consulting and teaching both public and private sector organizations the science/art of investigative interviewing. He has designed the curriculum for and presented investigative interviewing to agencies such as the Justice Institute of BC, Metro Vancouver Transit Police, the RCMP, the Professional Investigators Association of BC, the Independent Investigations Office of BC, Seattle Police Department, BC SPCA, UBC Security, the Manufacturing Safety Alliance of BC and WorkSafe BC.

In June 2024, he was awarded the prestigious International Investigative Interviewing Research Group Practitioner Excellence Award.

Contact

📧 BruceGPittPayne@gmail.com

🌐 https://brucegpittpayne.ca

▶️ https://youtube.com/@thepracteachionerbybrucepi-c8m?si=ZesTxB6YPSZCZtPg