In hotline investigations it is necessary to suspend cynicism in order to avoid potentially biasing the investigation. This post discusses why investigators must suspend cynicism and bias in whistleblower report intake and investigations to instill trust in the program.
In most investigative scenarios, it is important to question everything, not take things at face value and to be skeptical including when interviewing witnesses. In hotline investigations however, it is necessary to suspend cynicism in order to avoid potentially biasing the investigation. An active, well-promoted hotline produces a steady volume of alerts for compliance, legal, human resources and internal audit personnel to sift through. Hotlines can also produce a lot of noise – alerts and inquiries that don't necessarily rise to the level of an investigation being necessary. That fact alone can make the readers of alerts to become desensitized to allegations that are more substantive.
Think of your hotline as if it is an airport security metal detector. Airport security entails a lot of mundane, repetitive tasks which can cause the stewards of that critically important process of screening passengers to lose their focus and miss something that poses a genuine threat. Another common phenomenon when it comes to hotline investigations is unconscious bias. This could lead to a very important hotline report to be discounted for one of several reasons, each of which are based upon unconscious bias. Most...
Home Office minister Jess Phillips has told MPs there are a growing number of cases of migrants making false allegations that they have been the victims of domestic abuse. She was asked about the ...