The first account is your best evidence. Don't spoil it.

The first account a witness gives you is often the best evidence you will ever get from them, however a leading question, a witness who has been chatting to another witness, a hurried note on the back of a complaint form: any of these can weaken the account before your investigation has properly started.

The College of Policing's evidence-based guidelines on Obtaining initial accounts, first published in November 2020, set out how to protect it. They were written for police first responders. The principles apply to anyone who takes an account at the first point of contact, whether that is a local or public authority investigator on a doorstep, at a premises or on a complaint line.

Why the first account matters

The College describes the information from an initial account as the foundation for the rest of the investigation, and the account that underpins the formal interview. Detail missed or not drawn out at this stage can make the investigation, and anything that follows from it, less successful.

The guidance also makes a point every investigator should have in mind from the first minute: if it emerges that the witness may be a suspect, stop the account and caution them.

Our view: in many organisations, the person taking the first account doesn't see themselves as gathering evidence at all. They think they are logging a complaint. That is where accounts get lost.

Five rules from the evidence

1. Build rapport, and keep it

On balance, eight studies (seven of them laboratory experiments) found that rapport increases both the amount and the accuracy of information a witness gives. Explain who you are. The College warns against artificial small talk. Rapport is something you keep up throughout, not a box you tick at the start.

2. Separate your witnesses

Fourteen of sixteen studies found that witnesses exposed to other witnesses were significantly more likely to report things they had not seen. Take accounts out of earshot of each other where you can. That applies on the phone too. The person offering to support a witness may be a witness themselves.

3. Let them use their own words

Open questions that don't push for specifics tend to improve accuracy. Pressing for specific answers reduces it. The guidance accepts that fast-moving situations may need direct, closed questions.

4. Don't lead, verbally or otherwise

Twenty studies tested misleading questions. On balance, they caused witnesses to report things they had been led to believe. Feedback, sounds and gestures can lead too. Telling a witness their account differs from someone else's made later accounts less accurate in five laboratory experiments.

5. Record needs, demeanour and reluctance

A quality account includes an accurate record of the witness's needs and vulnerabilities. Demeanour can go in the account itself or in your notes. If someone is reluctant, record why, so the cause can be dealt with.

Then comes the statement

A good first account is the raw material for the witness statement. Keep the two as separate records. Where they differ, record the difference and the explanation.

In our next post we look at how to build the statement itself.

Need help with this?

BDG Training Consultancy offers free consultancy to scope bespoke training for your team on taking initial accounts and witness statements. See our investigation training courses or email info@bdgtrainingconsultancy.co.uk.

Sources: College of Policing, Obtaining initial accounts (first published 24 November 2020), https://www.college.police.uk/guidance/obtaining-initial-accounts and linked guideline pages (retrieved 29 October 2026).

This is a training and awareness summary, not legal advice. Local policy takes precedence.