Posted: September 7th, 2024

Communication Barriers in Law Enforcement

Communication Barriers in Law Enforcement

Describe some main communication barriers in the law enforcement field. How could we fix some of these issues if we had unlimited resources? If we had more limited resources, where should we concentrate our energies the most and why? Please go into as specific details as possible with real-life examples. For this assignment, you should be using some outside resources and cite them Help write my thesis – APA style within your paper, and list your references Help write my thesis – APA style at the end of your paper. This assignment should be minimally 1300 words.

Communication Barriers in Law Enforcement
Communication has been identified as an integral component of community policing, which is key to maintaining the effectiveness of law enforcement. Law enforcement officers face communication barriers that influence their service delivery to the assigned society. These communicative obstacles obstruct the potential for community policing for neighborhoods that need community safety and policing. Inappropriate and ineffectual communication is an obstacle to crime prevention and community policing. This communication results from different barriers to effective communication among the police and between the police and the community members. The main barriers to effective communications in law enforcement include language, distraction and false assumptions.
Language barriers are common in regions with ethnic disproportions in the workforce, and this deters the law enforcement system from effective functioning. Language barriers come in the way the police not been able to reflect the community they should serve properly. The block in communication in terms of language results in crimes not been reported, witnesses not availing themselves for testifying and thereby the community is devoured by criminals who know the victims do not have language resources to communicate to the police. With language disparities, law enforcement officers will struggle to build trusting relationships in the community they should serve. Different languages among the police and between the police and members of the community act as communication roadblocks and prevent understanding, which is key in effective community policing, law enforcement and crime prevention in the community.
Distraction is another main barrier to effective communication in law enforcement services. It is a deterrence to the effective delivery of crime prevention and community policing. Distraction as a barrier can either be external or internal. Noise is a good source of distraction that affects effective communication. For instance, the audible hum of an air conditioner and ringing cellphone count as distractions that block communication momentarily and can cause lost understanding between the communicating parties. The police officers and the members of the community must hear and understand the issues at hand. Distractions, in most cases, prevent the communicating parties from hearing each other fully to even reach to understanding each other. As a result, it becomes a hindrance to the understanding of important issues that need to be communicated by the police to the community and from the community to the law enforcement agencies.
False assumptions also form the main barrier to effective communication in the field of law enforcement. The wrong assumptions develop when the sender or the receiver does not know the background of the other party. The police officer might make assumptions on the understanding of community members about their efforts in keeping law and order through community policing. The community members might also make assumptions that the police know of the criminal cases in the neighborhood. These assumptions made in law enforcement incidents cause confusion and delays the processes that cost the effectiveness of communication. Solving the wrong assumptions in communication is another waste of time that would have been used to conduct other law enforcement services.
Police agencies and departments need to commit resources towards fixing the issues that affect communication in the law enforcement context. There are several ways they can remove barriers and enhance communication within law enforcement and community policing. St. Joseph Police Department, in their efforts to improve communication and overcoming barriers, they implemented an interpreter service program. The interpreter program in St Joseph Police department functioned by taking calls from people who were non-English speakers and allow understanding of a variety of different languages. When an emergency call is received from a person speaking another language other than English, the call is transferred to the interpreter service that allows the official to communicate with the caller within minutes.
Law enforcement agencies can commit to curbing the language barrier issue by recruiting prospective officers who are proficient in a language other than English, and others that have to speak another language regularly are main work responsibilities. In the recruitment level, the agencies and department should focus their resources on finding an applicant that is improved by having advanced language skills. It is important to have officers that can communicate in another language other English for addressing participants in an incident on time to diffuse fear and tension to restore community morale. It is essential in communicating with witnesses, victims to get accurate testimonies by use of other languages. Other languages are essential in the education of the public and the development of trusting relationships by speaking in school and community special interest groups.
Effective communication is achieved when law enforcement officers and citizens involved in the processes utilize the appropriate communication style for the occasion. Police officers should be taught focused on de-escalation strategies to deal with high-level community-police tensions in the community they serve. The de-escalating strategies are important in the occasions of training, making arrests and interacting with community members. De-escalation techniques aim to utilize communication skills to prevent the use of force and reduce physical encounters between officers and civilians. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has emphasized de-escalating strategies and training of officers on the necessary communication skills. Law enforcement authorities should set up online language training programs that develop the communication skills of the official in a variety of languages.
Improving communication and overcoming the barrier towards effective communication calls for police agencies and departments focusing on their unlimited resources in making efforts to reach out to citizens, from children to adults. The aim should be to create a comfortable environment for the members of the community to interact with the police officers. Regular visits to schools to read to students will enhance positive interactions that will foster effective communication in the achievement of trust between citizens and police officers. The investment of resources should be focused on achieving a building design that allows uninterrupted communication from the physical barrier of communication when questioning witnesses. The room for conducting the questioning process should have no physical barrier such as noise and should be free from disturbance by weather conditions.
Most important of all is focusing resources on improving the listening skills of the law enforcement officer to encourage the collection of facts about cases. The officer must learn to become actively involved while listening and also learn how to concentrate on the message. The communication should have a controlled listening environment, which should be a quiet location. The officer must learn to communicate with the speaker when they cannot get what the are saying. It is important to keep a balanced mind that is free of biases by giving all types of speakers an equal opportunity to be listened to.

References
Police communication skills matter more than ever: Here’s why. (2020, February 25). University of San Diego. https://onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu/police-communication-important-today/
Oostinga, M. S., Giebels, E., & Taylor, P. J. (2018). Communication error management in law enforcement interactions: a receiver’s perspective. Psychology, crime & law, 24(2), 134-155.
Shaffer, S. A., & Evans, J. R. (2018). Interpreters in law enforcement contexts: Practices and experiences according to investigators. Applied cognitive psychology, 32(2), 150-162.
Coonce, A. G. (2019). Crisis Communication For Law Enforcement: Crafting A Successful Strategy Using Social Media. NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA MONTEREY United States.

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