Communicating in Criminal Justice

Communicating in Criminal Justice

Communicating using verbal and nonverbal communication is essential in the law enforcement field. Using these types of communication properly help law enforcement deal with everyday situations. Law enforcement officers are expected to communicate in different types of situations. A typical situation that verbal and nonverbal communication could be used in for a law enforcement official is in police situations, courtroom settings, correctional facilities, and juvenile facilities. In these situations law enforcement officials must effectively communicate using verbal and nonverbal communication. Verbal communication is spoken words to communicate with people. Nonverbal communication also plays an important part in how law enforcement communicates with one another. Hollerbach (2006),” Each form of nonverbal communication either singularly or concomitantly plays an important role in helping us to grasp the true meaning of a message, and what I will describe are effective ways to improve nonverbal communication” (para. 2). Both verbal and nonverbal communication together equal the true message the speaker is trying to send.

Police Situations

Police officers train to deal with many types of situations using communication as a key factor in solving the incident. One situation is possibly speaking to the media. These different types of media are the newspaper, the television, and the radio (Wallace & Roberson, 2009). When speaking to the media a person should make an outline of the message he wants to pass on to the public. This also helps keep the person speaking on the right track with his speech. Many police departments use public affairs officers to communicate with the press. When a Police Department like this needs to put out information to the public they would use the public affairs officer in this type of situation. These individuals would be well-versed in verbal and nonverbal communication. The public affairs officer also helps the police department because appointing one person to communicate with the press helps prevent confusion of communication with the press and media.

Courtroom

Testifying in courtroom is something law enforcement officers face during their career. It is important that a law enforcement official uses proper communication skills in a courtroom setting. Not using proper communication skills could cause the law enforcement officer to be viewed not a credible witness to the case. Communication within the courtroom starts when the law enforcement officer walks into the room. The people in the courtroom observe how the law enforcement officer is dressed and how he acts during the case. These nonverbal cues could determine how the people in the courtroom determine if they think a witness is credible or not. While testifying in court is imperative