2.3: Interpersonal Skills Training in Law Enforcement

Some law enforcement training programs, such as POSTC and KLETC, already provide communications-based instruction for recruits. However, current descriptions of many training programs fail to explain how learning objectives link to lesson plans. Instructors might simply describe these skills in class, telling their students “You use interpersonal skills when you walk up to motorists with a friendly demeanor and engage them in conversation.” Alternatively, maybe teachers describe skills, model them, and evaluate recruits. Perhaps, students only observe the instructor, or, maybe, they practice, demonstrate, and master these skills. Currently, a lack of clarity surrounds how academies determine that police recruits truly master the competencies in a communications-training curriculum.

Counselor Education Training Programs

As police academies determine how to teach and evaluate interpersonal skills, they should consider using methods from counselor education curricula. Counseling-education students complete at least one course on essential interpersonal skills and then apply these techniques to all other areas of their training. Similarly, in police academies, interpersonal skills should be taught and mastered independently so that recruits can use these abilities to supplement technical training. Six steps comprise a common procedure in counselor education courses; this process exemplifies how law enforcement academies can teach their own recruits.

1. The instructor presents, defines, and demonstrates a specific capability to the class.
2. The students practice the skill, often in groups of three. One student takes on the role of the counselor, another plays the client and the third observes. Group members take a turn in each role.
3. Class members discuss their challenges with each task, and they continue to practice.
4. Each student performs in front of the class and instructor, who evaluates each class member on all of the assigned skills.
5. The class repeats steps 1 through 4 until all techniques are introduced, modeled, practiced, demonstrated, and evaluated.
6. At the end of the semester, students demonstrate all of the competencies that they learned in the course during a 10- to 15-minute mock counseling session. The instructor videotapes each session and evaluates the students’ command of all the skills.

Many counselor education course materials outline systematic processes for learning interpersonal skills, which police academies can adapt for law enforcement. Recruits can practice their techniques by modeling common interactions between the police and the public. Additionally, instructors should consider using counseling interns or other trained non-police personnel to facilitate recruits’ learning.

This initial training builds an essential foundation for new officers because they need to master communication skills before they execute tactical and legal tasks. In this context, law enforcement training resembles learning to play an instrument, like the piano. Beginners must learn certain basic and requisite piano techniques, regardless of their chosen genre, before they can progress. In law enforcement, all new officers must master verbal and nonverbal interpersonal skills regardless of their job function, title, or location.

Lessons from the Medical Profession

Though law enforcement and medicine seem unrelated, both professions demand interpersonal skills for many of the same reasons because they blend technical tasks with frequent human interaction. Like doctors, police officers must listen to and understand the public—their “patients.” When officers communicate effectively, it strengthens their ability to gather pertinent information, supplements their technical knowledge, and breaks down barriers between the police and the public. These items mirror how interpersonal skills function in medicine because doctors must bridge the gap between professionals and patients to practice medicine competently.

Both doctors and police rely on information from human sources to facilitate their investigations. “If the doctor does not facilitate the story telling, “if the patient is not encouraged to go on “the patient very often will not.” The same logic applies to interview subjects: Witnesses provide however much or little information is drawn from them, depending on how the officers conduct the interview. Just as spoken and unspoken language influences patients’ willingness to comply with their doctors, the same factors influence an individual’s cooperation with the police.

Doctor-patient communication remains at the forefront of medical education. In classes, internships, and residencies, medical students learn how to interact better with patients, which enhances care. Police recruits need to learn the same type of skills in the academy. Then, after this initial training, officers can apply their techniques on the job and, thus, build trust and cooperation with the community.