Investigation • Core questions

5WH police meaning

5WH formula — core investigation questions. A quick, source-backed reference for the UK policing mnemonic 5WH.

Short answer

College of Policing APP (Investigation process) tells investigators to apply the 5WH formula — who, what, when, where, why and how — with the relevance/reliability/admissibility filters to organise knowledge, spot gaps in material and set lines of enquiry. Also used to structure interview questions alongside TED prompts.

5WH
5WH formula — core investigation questions
WWho
WWhat
WWhen
WWhere
WWhy
HHow

When officers use it

College of Policing APP (Investigation process) tells investigators to apply the 5WH formula — who, what, when, where, why and how — with the relevance/reliability/admissibility filters to organise knowledge, spot gaps in material and set lines of enquiry. Also used to structure interview questions alongside TED prompts.

Practical point: the mnemonic is a memory aid, not the test. Decisions still turn on the live facts and the underlying law — record your rationale, not just the letters.

Variants and spellings

Sometimes written '5 x WH + H' or 5W1H; ordering of the Ws varies between sources but the six questions are constant.

Why Section includes this

Section is a fast UK police reference app for officers and student officers: offences, points to prove, PACE powers and the standard mnemonics in one offline place. Every entry in the app — including this one — was verified against the sources listed below.

What does 5WH stand for?

W = Who, W = What, W = When, W = Where, W = Why, H = How.

Is 5WH a law?

No — it is a memory aid used in UK police training. It has no statutory force of its own.

Are there variants of 5WH?

Sometimes written '5 x WH + H' or 5W1H; ordering of the Ws varies between sources but the six questions are constant.

Sources

ADVOKATE — Assessing eyewitness identification evidence (Turnbull factors) Golden Hour — Golden hour principle — effective early action PEACE — Investigative interviewing framework

All 25 mnemonics, plus 1,200+ offences, offline

Section puts the mnemonics, points to prove and maximum penalties in your pocket — verified against legislation.gov.uk, built for on-shift lookup.

Join the waitlist