Police Officers and Affective Communication

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In the criminal justice field, affective communication is a must. Law enforcement and the media are constantly communicating to the public in various ways such as announcements that warn the public of a criminal on the loose or natural disasters and other topics. Although these two different fields communicate sometimes on a daily basis, law enforcement personnel have a mission to accomplish, so do the media. How they communicate to each other is a task in itself. Law enforcement officers also have to testify in court, how they testify could affect the outcome of the proceeding. Verbal and nonverbal communication is a “must know” skill, law enforcement officers need to communicate effectively. Certain guidelines and procedures for producing these types of communications are in place for this reason. Now defining verbal communication, in the criminal justice field, is an act of expressing facts through written word, Including; reports, letters, faxes, emails, notes, affidavits, logs, and so on. Nonverbal communication includes gestures, body language, pitch of voice, and other actions that would be hard to communicate through words while speaking. Unfortunately, law enforcement officials view news reporters with distrust. The United States Constitution prohibits the government from passing any law that restricts the freedom of the press. The media calls this the people’s right to know. In many departments, there is a standard operating procedure for these types of contacts on media relations. These procedures have three advantages. First of all, it assures the city manager and the media of uniformity in dealing with the press. Secondly, it gives both parties procedures that they can know and follow. Thirdly, the standard operating procedures informs the police officers on the street about how they should respond to an unexpected contact with a reporter.

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