Bryan Barlow, CFI

Bryan Barlow, CFI^_®, joined the Chicago Police Department (CPD) in 2002 and was promoted to Detective in 2008, where he conducted a wide variety of investigations around the city. In 2015, Bryan became a training coordinator and instructor for the CPD’s Bureau of Detectives, where he researched, wrote curriculum, and delivered training to new officers, newly promoted detectives, and in-service department members on investigatory topics such as Investigative and Trauma-Informed Interviewing, Investigative Methodologies and Law. After retiring from the CPD in 2023, Bryan began conducting seminars as an instructor with Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates, Inc. (WZ), focusing on Evidence-Based Interviewing Techniques, Homicide Investigations, Trauma-Informed Interviewing, and Law.

Bryan holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Loyola University Chicago, a Master of Jurisprudence degree with a concentration in Criminal Law from DePaul University, and is a veteran of the U.S. Army.

Bryan presented “When ‘Just the Facts’ Doesn’t Work – Trauma-Informed Interviewing” at Elite Training Days 2021. Trying to gather information from traumatized individuals can be difficult. Interviewing victims of street crime, workplace violence, someone who has been involved in a major accident or suffered a severe personal loss can often be frustrating, especially when the regular information-gathering: asking the who, what, when, where, and why, doesn’t allow us to put together a complete picture. This difficulty stems from the effect traumas have on the brain of a trauma survivor. His presentation discussed how trauma affects an individual’s brain and effective strategies for interviewing trauma survivors in a victim-centered, trauma-informed manner to obtain the best information available to aid in the conduct of investigations.

Location: Zoom (NS)- June 17-19, 2025