The Challenges Of Effective Communication In Law Enforcement

“Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can't get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn't even matter."

Failure to listen is one of the most common barriers to effective communication, and giving and receiving feedback is a skill that is critical in law enforcement. Chapter 5 is about the challenges of communicating with people with special needs. Law enforcement personnel come across all levels of citizens who may have different abilities to effectively communicate. The ability to understand and communicate with these groups is essential to carry out their duties. Some of the issues facing officers include persons who speak different languages, have different customs and expectations, are fearful of authority, and who may have physical limitations that affect their ability to communicate. Other barriers to communications include people with emotional issues, people with mental retardation and/or illness, and people who may be under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. Not only do officers need to be able to communicate with these people, they also need to be able to recognize the different conditions that could be present and present a challenge to communication. Communication in public is the crux of Chapter 6. This is an important aspect of dealing with outside entities. Whether being interviewed be the media, speaking to citizens about a situation or giving a speech to others, public speaking is one of the most challenging parts of communicating. This chapter gives some good advice in regards to speech writing, delivering that

This was a very short semester, but I did learn quite a few things. The chapters I was more interested on were 4-6. Chapter 4 dealt with communication skills which are a very important aspect in Law Enforcement without it we would be lost. Communication is the simple process of which information is transferred from one person to another. (Hess & Orthmann, 2012, pg. 103) Some people excel at it because they were born being very sociable, others have a hard time trying to get that message to others. Practice can fix this problem over time, so there won’t be any barriers or problems getting that message send in time to get the proper help fast. Next it was Chapter 5 this chapter described all the decision-making strategies, and problem-solving

Law enforcement agencies across the nation are facing challenging and complex issues that demand tailored solutions. From immigration to technology to recruitment and retention, the challenges are far reaching. To effectively communicate and connect with an audience, leaders must be able to adapt to each generation, technology, and evolving statutes, which govern a democratic society. Leaders must be able to communicate the message clearly to ensure that the receiver understands the correct meaning and the intention of the message. Equally important, it is critical for leaders to communicate well in order to motivate and inspire followers to accomplish greater achievements. The culmination issues of immigration and crime, racial disparity, and advancing technology have become the landscape for modern law enforcement. Twenty-first century leaders must be prepared to not only navigate the technological changes, but also effectively manage controversial issues, such as immigration, racial disparities.

In 2014, civil rights groups began to collaborate with government agencies to contribute efforts by representing the people’s individual rights. For example, the ACLU commended President Obama’s Task Force, Building Trust and Legitimacy, but ACLU have also recommended additional efforts (Murphy 2015). ACLU’s director, Laura Murphy participated in this collaboration by writing a lengthy testimony on the behalf of the Union. In this testimony, Murphy introduces with this statement about what she refers to as “police

Communication issues are also a challenge for criminal justice agencies. There are two communication barriers one is individual and the other is organizational. Individual communication issues are that a person’s own interpretation of a message may not be what is meant. An organization’s culture can be a barrier in communicating with another organization. The court system, police and corrections have different jargon that is used within their culture. This sometimes makes communication difficult between the organizations as well as with the public. To handle these challenges a leader must be an affective communicator (Duelin, 2010).

The ACLU has a long history of fighting police misconduct. From our landmark litigation in the 1940s and 50s establishing that police conduct which “shocks the conscience” is unconstitutional, to our current advocacy efforts against the targeted surveillance of Black Lives Matter activists, we are well-positioned to push for critical police reforms. With national advocacy efforts, state-level litigation and legislative work, and local grassroots organizing, we are more active than ever in demanding critical and long-overdue reform.

The number one component that will make a law enforcement manager successful and in turn will make the agency successful is communication. Effective communication is the most important element for any successful law enforcement agency. The law enforcement manager must be able to successfully communicate his or her desires, wants, and goals throughout the entire organization. “Many ‘people problems’

Communication is a vital tool in our society today because police officers could not serve the public effectively without good communication skills. A lack of the ability to listen or to speak effectively could result in a misunderstanding. Communication plays a very important role in the lives and jobs of police officers. Communication allows officers the ability to better manage evidence by interrogating witnesses and suspects and gathering information. This allows them to make quick and informed decisions. Police officers can only succeed if they master communication, both social and professional, so that they can be comfortable with the public and get their jobs done behind the scenes.

In the criminal justice system, a police officer’s ability to communicate is one of the most important traits an officer can have. Police officers communicate with everyone from the public to peers, arrestees, victim and suspect families, and court personnel. A police officer must determine the most effective way to communicate, using several different methods, with everyone without offending or sounding weak.

Upon examining former FBI Director James Comey’s 2015 speech and question and answer session which focused on law enforcement and race relations, many points were made to what got us to this point and possible remedies moving forward. Comey mentioned areas of debates which includes law enforcement’s relationship with communities, appropriate use of force, and the real and perceived biases within and outside of law enforcement. Several points were made during the speech and question and answer session which included data driven intelligence, understanding racial bias, cynicism, unjust laws, militarizing the police, and the impact of the media. Of the many points made by Comey, the two points that I found most important and compelling were

There are many purposes for communication within the very diverse criminal justice departments and agencies. Communication is a means of connecting people or places together and if not conveyed just right could be misunderstood and misinterpreted. The purposes for communication between the sender and receiver are to solicit information, to train, explain, or inform, to educate, mediate and persuade and last but not least to problem solve. Those were only a few modes or purposes of communication, the list goes on and on. Communication can be in the form of verbal, written, electronic, or something as simple as body language. Whatever conveys a message to a receiver is a form of communication. However it is conveyed or interpreted is another story and sometimes miscommunication leads to bad decisions. It is very important for a sender to take time and make sure the receiver understands all the information as well as if the receiver does not understand something questions need to be asked to obtain the correct information. In the criminal justice field it is imperative that all information is received and understood in the manner in which it is meant to be, if not it could actually be the difference in a life and death situation. Communication is often defined as a sharing or exchange of information, via a medium, between a sender and a receiver. (Collins & Stohr, 2014). There are two types of communication and that is formal which is verbal presentation or document intended

Since January 2016 I have noticed a gradual positive progress on Deputy Kaylor’s communication skills. When she applies effective communication techniques and combines it with a specific set skill like active listening, nonverbal communication, it shows her level of capacity to recognize and understand her own emotions and those of the persons that she is communicating with.

Communication is important to most professions and human relations in general. When it comes to a career in the Criminal Justice field, you must have great communication skills. Possessing these skills can keep you out of bad situations, and might even save your life. Communication can be verbal or non-verbal and to be able to do your job well, you need to know how to overcome potential communication barriers.

All organizations, especially law enforcement agencies, require leadership. Maintaining a dependable leadership structure is key to the success of any organization. The philosophy of the modern style of police leadership involves a leader who is strong, competitive and unreceptive to change. Police leadership is based from an autocratic style which is founded on integrity and courage, embracing teamwork, involvement and shared leadership (Cordner & Scarborough, 2010). This style of leadership works well in an emergency situation in which rapid decision making and strict control is needed. The negative aspect to this style of leadership is the inability of the organization to function with the absence of leadership.