Facility dogs during police investigative interviews: Does it decrease children's reluctance?

Using facility dogs during police investigative interviews is a recent practice in Canada. While the common use of this intervention is decidedly an indicator of sympathy capital, its utility in this context is relatively unknown and no study has specifically evaluated the effect of using facility dogs on children's collaboration during investigative interviews.

This study compares police investigative interviews conducted in the presence of a service dog (n = 46) to those without (n = 45) to examine the effects of the presence of and interactions with a dog on children's reluctance.

The interviews were done with children aged 3 to 15 years and were coded for children's reluctance, their physical interactions with and comments about the dog, as well as for investigator's verbal support.

No significant group differences were found in terms of children's overall reluctance (p = 0.700), though the children accompanied by a dog showed significantly more digression (p = 0.008). Among the children who were accompanied by a dog, those who interacted with the dog more frequently (p = 0.035) and who made more comments about the dog (p < 0.001) showed more signs of reluctance, even after accounting for child age and investigator support. No association was observed between children's reluctance and the total duration of dog-child physical interactions (p = 0.097).

This study contributes to an enhanced understanding of the usefulness of facility dogs and the factors that influence children's reluctance during investigative interviews.