involving a victim or witness who has experienced physical or psychological abuse. The interviewer’s task is similar to that of the clinical psychologist, who must initially develop a personal bond with his client before intimate feelings are shared.² Thus, investigators can enhance their rapport-building skills by examining some practical recommendations derived from the behavior modification technique known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

UNDERSTANDING NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING

     In the early 1970s, John Grinder, an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Cali-fornia in Santa Cruz, and Richard Bandler, a student of psychology, identified patterns used by successful therapists. They packaged them in a way that could be passed on to others through a model now known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP.³
      Neuro-Linguistic Programming embraces three simple concepts. First, the neuro part of NLP recognizes the fundamental idea that all human behavior originates from neurological processes, which include seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling. In essence, people experience the world through their senses. Second, they communicate their experiences verbally, through language;⁴ therefore, the linguistic part of NLP refers to this use of language to communicate thoughts. Finally, the programming aspect of NLP recognizes that individuals choose to organize their ideas and actions to produce results. Each person also decides how to organize these ideas in a specific manner.⁵
      The NLP founders theorize that people think differently and that these differences correspond to individual programming or processing systems. People use their senses outwardly to perceive the world and inwardly to “re-present” this experience to themselves. In NLP, representational systems denote ways people take in, store, and code information in their minds.⁶ These systems pertain to the principal human senses—seeing (visual), hearing (auditory), and feeling (kinesthetic). To a lesser degree, they involve tasting (gustatory) and smelling (olfactory). People constantly see, hear, and feel whatever transpires around them. When individuals relate these experiences to others, they mentally access the sights, sounds, or feelings associated with these experiences and communicate them through their predominant representational system.⁷

Special Agent Sandoval is an instructor in the Law Enforcement Communication Unit at the FBI Academy.	Special Agent Adams is an instructor in the Law Enforcement Communication Unit at the FBI Academy.

BUILDING RAPPORT WITH NLP

     Enhancing communication and, hence, building rapport represents the most applicable aspect of NLP to investigators. The ability to communicate effectively and build rapport stands as one of the major contributors to a police officer’s success in dealing with the public.⁸ In an interview setting, effective communication involves the interviewer’s skill in establishing rapport through specific actions and words, thereby building trust and encouraging the interviewee to provide information.
     Others besides successful law enforcement interviewers have found NLP techniques helpful in rapport building. For example,