From Confession to Information: Reforming Police Interviewing in Brazil

Fernando Guzzi spent the first half of his career as what colleagues called a 'good confession obtainer'. Then he was asked to teach interrogation at the police academy — and started reading the research. What he found changed everything.
In this episode of Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, Dr Ivar Fahsing speaks with Fernando Guzzi, a Police Commissioner from Santa Catarina, Brazil, about the journey from confession-centred policing to investigative interviewing — and what it means to make that shift inside a system still shaped by the legacy of military dictatorship.
They discuss what happens to trust when the interview dynamic breaks down; why public cooperation with police is an acute problem in Latin America; what 61% of investigators getting confessions right actually means for justice; and how recording technology is now transforming accountability in Brazil's police stations — not just for evidence quality, but for the officers themselves.