2.2: Communication in Common Police Practice

Fundamentally, police officers do two things: they talk to people and they touch people. Most police activities involve one of these actions. The “touch factor” in police training, driven by concern for officer safety, encompasses instruction in firearms, motor vehicle stops, self-defense, arrest and control, and responses to crimes in progress. Instructors easily can witness and evaluate officers’ proficiency in these areas. For example, in firearms training, recruits must receive a certain score to qualify to carry a weapon.

The “talk factor” in police training focuses on verbal interactions during criminal investigations, traffic stops, interviews, and interrogations. Unlike technical skills, however, police instructors cannot easily witness and evaluate officer performance in these competencies. Yet, officers need these skills to ably execute tactical and legal tasks. The Connecticut Police Officers Standards and Training Council (POSTC) and the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center (KLETC) both support this view and maintain that effective interpersonal skills are essential to virtually every aspect of police operation.

Law enforcement officers cannot avoid interactions with the public because they occur so frequently in three very common areas of police work: motor vehicle stops, criminal investigations, and domestic violence and conflicts. Officers’ interactions with the community as part of these duties illustrate the need for interpersonal skills training in law enforcement academies.

Think About It . . . Enhancing Communication Skills

Good communication skills can make all the difference in civilian exchanges, the first four seconds of contact between an officer and an individual can determine the entire course of an interaction. Watch this video in which Lt. Kevin Dillon talks about the value of good communication skills.

Motor vehicle stops are considered one of the best ways to prevent crime, and they present the primary opportunity for communication between officers and the public; unfortunately, traffic stops also serve as the most frequent source of complaints against the police when they lead to conflict between the stopped individuals and officers.

While law enforcement cannot avoid all hostility from motorists, the outcome of such conflicts depends on how officers approach the situation. Even when the incident requires enforcement action, officers should make every possible effort to seek a satisfactory outcome for everyone involved. Officers cannot predict the exact behaviors they will encounter during motor vehicle stops, and, thus, they need strong interpersonal skills to minimize hostility and misunderstandings in these situations.

In criminal investigations, the community calls upon police officers to assist individuals who have suffered the most negative experiences imaginable, and the outcomes of these investigations dramatically influence those involved. During these cases, the investigating officers’ interpersonal skills significantly influence the community’s impression of the police. Public perception, in turn, affects the success of investigations by influencing community members’ willingness to provide information.

Often, domestic conflict involves physical violence coupled with strong emotions. Officers who respond to these situations must secure the scene and gather information to determine probable cause. A strong foundation of verbal and nonverbal skills allows officers to accomplish these tasks in a sensitive environment.

Essential Techniques

To improve officers’ performance in common police practices, agencies can instruct personnel on basic competencies that ease communication between the police and the public during motor vehicle stops, criminal investigations, and domestic conflicts. These skills fall into three categories: setting the stage, gathering evidence, and confirming information.

To set the stage for effective communication, officers should practice crucial verbal and nonverbal conversation habits. These include eye contact, body position, voice tone, facial expressions, gestures, physical distance, and physical contact. Police also should use open invitations to talk, such as encouragers and closed and open-ended questions.

When gathering evidence, four communication skills assist officers in collecting pertinent information: focusing, paraphrasing, reflecting, and confronting. Focusing helps with re-framing and reconstructing problems. When paraphrasing, officers restate someone’s thoughts in different words and in a nonjudgmental manner. Reflecting involves feelings as officers articulate an individual’s emotions, whether stated or implied. Finally, confronting aids police in identifying discrepancies in a story.

To confirm information, officers should use two strategies to pull together relevant data and ensure that they accurately capture an individual’s story. Clarifying confirms that the officer and the individual agree on the exchanged information and summarizing establishes that all information gathered is accurate.