Rapport is not a soft skill. It is the mechanism that determines whether a subject talks to you or shuts down, whether a victim trusts you enough to tell the truth, and whether a confession holds up when a defense attorney starts asking how you got it. This 8-hour online course goes beyond the basics covered in recruit training and builds the skills that separate average interviewers from investigators people actually talk to.

Advanced Rapport Building is a standalone course and a component of RTI's full Interview and Interrogation course. If you've already completed I&I, this content is included. If you want to go deep on rapport specifically before committing to the full 40 hours, this is where to start.

What You'll Cover

• Back to Basics: Interview goals, the distinction between interview and interrogation, subject background research, and location selection
• Observation and Listening: Active listening, empathetic listening, and conversation management techniques grounded in behavioral research
• Interpersonal Communication: How you communicate is as important as what you say — this module covers the mechanics of communication that either build or destroy rapport in real time
• Advanced Rapport: The science behind why people talk to some investigators and not others, barriers to rapport and how to dismantle them, and the emotional dynamics that make a subject feel understood rather than interrogated

HIG-funded research consistently finds that rapport-based approaches outperform confrontational methods on both information yield and confession reliability. This course teaches you why that is true and exactly how to apply it in the field.

Who This Course Is For

This course is built for patrol officers and detectives who interview people regularly and want to get better at it. It is also appropriate for investigators who completed basic interview training years ago and want to update their approach with methodology that holds up in court. No prerequisites required.

Course Format

8 hours. Online, self-paced. Includes reading assignments, video content, and knowledge checks throughout. Certificate of completion issued upon finishing the end-of-course assessment.

Why Rapport Is the Job

Nobody confesses to a stranger. Nobody gives up critical case details to someone they do not trust. The research from the FBI's High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group and decades of peer-reviewed interviewing science points to the same conclusion: the investigator's ability to build genuine rapport is the single greatest predictor of whether a subject discloses. This course teaches you how to do that deliberately, not by personality, not by luck.

Most law enforcement training exists because someone needed to fill a POST requirement. You've sat through that training. You know exactly what it looks like.

RTI courses are built by working investigators who got tired of watching officers fail in the field because their training never matched reality. Every module is grounded in current forensic science, tested against real case outcomes, and built to hold up in court, not just in a classroom.

No rubber-stamp certificates. No recycled slide decks from a decade ago. No instructors whose only qualification is that they once attended the course they're now teaching.

If you do the work, you'll leave with skills you can use on your next shift.
That's the standard RTI trains to.

Is this course the same as the I&I course?

No. Advanced Rapport Building is a module within the full Interview and Interrogation course. If you purchase I&I, this content is already included. ARB is offered as a standalone for officers who want focused rapport training without the full 40-hour commitment.

How is this different from basic rapport training?

Most basic interview training touches on rapport as a step in a process. This course treats rapport as the entire discipline, covering active and empathetic listening, conversation management, barriers to rapport, and the emotional dynamics that govern whether a subject opens up or shuts down.

Does this course count for POST credit?

Contact your state POST for pre-approval questions. RTI courses are Idaho POST-certified. Documentation for your training records is provided upon completion.

Is this course relevant for patrol officers or just detectives?

Both. Every officer interviews people, on scene, at the door, in the car. The skills in this course apply whether you are a patrol officer building a field interview or a detective working a major crimes case.

Can my agency purchase this for multiple officers?

Yes. Contact RTI for agency pricing and group enrollment. This course is also available for in-person delivery. Reach out via the contact page to discuss scheduling.