Customer Service in Criminal Justice

Customer Service in Law Enforcement

Student Name

American Intercontinental University

Customer Service in Law Enforcement

        Often times, when you think about law enforcement you are not thinking about them being in the customer service business. However, customer service isn’t just sitting behind a desk and making people happy all day. Customer service is interacting with every day people and providing them with quality care and compassion. It means to serve the community with “an act of helpful activity” ("Definition of Customer Service," 2018). In the line of law enforcement this is done every day. Officers use their authority to protect and serve the community.

        While law enforcement uses their authority to protect and serve they also use it to provide customer service. In many cases, you can catch a lot more flies with honey than you can with vinegar (Ray, 2013). In law enforcement, it means that if you treat the community with respect you will get a lot more cooperation from them. The more exceptional customer service you provide to the community the more likely the community will help serve law enforcement (Ray, 2013). Customer service must also be present when working with other community service employees such as, prosecutors, defense attorneys, lab technicians, court personnel, etc. Customer service does not only include face to face interaction, it must be present during any type of communication from a simple email to court orders and search warrants.

        When interacting with people, “properly trained officers will be able to listen to people, hear their complaints and gauge their emotional states” (Ray, 2013). This will better assist them in extracting a confession while also helping build a rapport with people that could lead them to capturing a criminal (Ray, 2013). With proper training law enforcement can avoid hassles and save time by being able to trust their community to be their eyes and ears on the streets. In the long run, this can save them a lot of time, but it can only be done by spending time within the community and listening to their needs (Ray, 2013).

        Customer service amongst law enforcement does not only help officers gain trust from the community and help officers gain additional information. It can also help officers avoid suspensions from duty and even lawsuits. This is where the self-control and customer service training can be very helpful. An officer that has self-control and proper customer service training will be able to diffuse a situation with an angry perpetrator who starts mouthing off instead of using any type of excessive force by hitting the perpetrator over the head to get them to quiet down (Ray, 2013). In many cases, it is important that law enforcement follow many of the same protocols as your local grocery store (Ray, 2013).