Effective Communication Within Law Enforcement

Effective communication is the expertise of expressing a concept or passing on knowledge verbally and non-verbally, and is typically the transaction between two or more people. Those speaking have the task of making the communication effective by knowing and practicing the proper speaking, listening, and body language when communicating with others. Verbal communication is the process of exchanging or sharing information or an individual’s ideas verbally between two or more people or a group of individuals. The part of speaking is only half of the task of communication; communication also involves attentiveness on the listener’s part and providing feedback to the speaker to verify the information was received and properly understood.
The first step within communication consist of hearing the sounds from the words being spoken and these words and sounds being transmitted to our brains to be processed. Next comes listening and this step should be done actively with those who are listening evaluating what the speaker is passing on and responding back to the speaker. The process of being an effective listener does contain barriers which an individual might encounter such as certain topics of discussion which an individual finds uninteresting or does not stimulate them and will not pay attention to who is speaking. Some of the barriers which might be seen with active listening within law enforcement include; officers being distracted from previous communications, an emotional involvement such as stress or anxiety can both impede law enforcements active listening. Law enforcement can overcome these barriers by focusing on what the other person is saying, asking the other person questions and utilizing feedback to ensure the message was received clearly and was
These two channels are the path in which information travels from the sender to the receiver. Formal channels of communication are typically utilized by the chain of command to disseminate the same information to all officers; for example: the Police chief using this channel to pass down information such as new regulations and guidelines for officers on hand cuffing. Informal channels of communication are usually less official and consist of departmental hearsay and rumors of other officers and staff within the organization. An example of this channel would be officers talking with other officers concerning a case or a suspect and passing information involving the