Police
officers communicate with multiple tools on an everyday basis. All three of
these communication skills are beneficial to me in my career field and other
fellow officers because all of them could mean life or death to the officer and
citizens. These communication skills can
only be effective if they are learned and used properly. In order to learn this communication skill
police officers have to regularly attend classes to get their license up to
date.
Nonverbal is a important communication skill for police officer. Police officers use nonverbal skills every day we rely
on are skills to keep themselves and citizens out of danger. Pinizzotto
& Davis (1999) says, “A police officer's safety is dependent on their
ability to nonverbally establish authority and dominance when working with the
public in instances such as routine traffic stops”. Ways a police officer can insure their safety is
through physical body language, hand signals and direct eye contact. Another way of communicating nonverbally is that
police officers are mainly identifiable by the uniform they wear and the
appearance of the car they drive.
References:
Pinizzotto,
A. J., Davis, E. F. (June, 1999). Offenders' Perceptual Shorthand: What
Messages Are Law Enforcement Officers Sending to Offenders? [Electronic
version]. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,
68, 1-4.
Verbal communication is ineffective without active
listening, Sometimes
all a person needs is someone to listen to them rather than being strong armed
by the law. Police have to communicate by listening so
there reports are accurate. For a police
officer to listen effectively is to be non-judgmental, to give the
speaker there undivided attention and to make sure they understand exactly what
the speaker is trying to tell them.
Police officers have to be able to communicate well with
others by verbally speaking. Many occupations require excellent verbal
communication skills to operate efficiently. Police officers rely on verbal skills as a
matter of life and death. The first lines of communication with police
officers are giving and receive orders from the
dispatcher. The dispatcher must be able
to communicate clearly what the emergency is where it is and the level of
threat. Officer to officer have to effectively
verbally communicate to one another mostly by radio. Officers must speak clearly and efficiently
using as few words as possible to communicate the situation. Officers also have to communicate with
citizens, when verbally giving orders to a citizen; an officer has to have a firm
clear voice. There is another side when dealing with citizens “the victim”, it
is always hard on a victim and the officer should always communicate in a clear
soft spoken voice.
