About and credits

Where SAFER comes from.

A method developed in the field and grounded in published research.

The presenter

SAFER was developed by Detective Jonathan Pignataro of the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office in Battle Creek, Michigan, from years of investigative interviewing in sex-offense cases.

The two-day training serves a multi-disciplinary audience: detectives and investigators, corrections and parole and probation officers, victim advocates, forensic interviewers, and prosecutors.

What this site is

A companion to the in-person training. Attendees can review the five pillars, watch the supporting video library, and download the field resources after class.

A note on the material. This program handles sensitive subject matter with care. It explores how a person came to offend in order to investigate and ask better questions, never to excuse the offense.

Research and attribution

SAFER integrates established frameworks the presenter can defend.

Procedural justice: Tom R. Tyler, Why People Obey the Law; Yale Justice Collaboratory.
Rapport-based interviewing: Laurence and Emily Alison, ORBIT.
Investigative interviewing: The PEACE model, UK College of Policing.
Memory and recall: Fisher and Geiselman, the Cognitive Interview.
Eliciting change: Miller and Rollnick, Motivational Interviewing.
Evidence disclosure: Granhag and Hartwig, Strategic Use of Evidence.
Rehabilitation framing: Ward and Maruna, the Good Lives Model.
Childhood adversity: Felitti et al., the ACE Study; Nadine Burke Harris.
Investigator wellness: Figley, secondary traumatic stress; OVC Vicarious Trauma Toolkit.

Video credits are listed with each entry in the Video Library. Third-party videos remain the property of their publishers and are linked, not rehosted.