Communication Barriers

Communication Barriers

Communication is very important, not only to law enforcement, but in every facet of life. If you think about it, communication is accomplished both verbally and non-verbally, as well as electronically. Today technology has allowed us to communicate more efficiently with millions of people in seconds, such as in the case of social media. In most instances this is beneficial, however it can also be counter-productive and even dangerous in some circumstances.

There are different barriers to communication that I will discuss in this paper. I will also try to recommend ways to improve communication and overcome communication barriers in law enforcement.

The Communication Process

Communication is a process involving the exchange of information between two or more persons. The process is not isolated and there are several different directions or channels through which information is processed, sent, received, and understood clearly by the receiver (Wallace & Roberson, 2009). The first step in the process starts with an idea. Once the idea is formed, it will then need to be transmitted. We will then need to find a method or medium for transmitting our idea. There are many methods of transmitting ideas or information to another person, or many people at the same time. It depends on several things, first who do you want to receive the information? The location of the individual, and how urgent is the information, and is there a time deadline to transmit the information? These are all questions one may ask himself prior to transmission of a message.

For example, in my office there is a lot of communication done through e-mail, which is an electronic form of written communication. If the message is urgent I may want to call the person, or simply walk to that persons office if they are located in the same building. If I sent e-mail to a person to let them know about an urgent matter and they had left for the day, they would not receive the message until the next workday, which may be too late. Also, if the message contains confidential or secret information, e-mail is most likely the wrong medium for this type of communication and should be handled in person or by an approved “secure line”, these secure lines are often available in government agencies.

Once the information is received it must be understood. When talking to someone through e-mails it is often difficult because there is no tone or body language. Often times we do not understand the message and will respond with a request for clarification. This may also be time consuming and frustrating for both the sender and receiver of the conversation. Once the message is received and understood, feedback can then be given to the sender, which lets them know that