The incorporation of multidisciplinary approaches to enhance police communication strategies

Effective communication skills are an essential tool for the policing practitioner. Police communicate with people of all ages, social classes and cultural and social backgrounds on a daily basis. Police also deal with individuals who can be victims, witnesses, persons of interest and offenders, and predominantly achieve their work activities through speaking to people. In addition, police need to be effective communicators when appearing in court to give evidence, working with colleagues and supervisors and liaising with members from other emergency services. In fact, it can be argued that effective communication is the most valued skill in policing, as it assists police in keeping the peace, restoring order and enhancing community cooperation. Policing is a complex profession and, at times, it would appear to consist of competing demands. On one hand, there are organisational requirements for police to provide high levels of customer service whilst on the other, there is a demand for police to reduce crime and its associated fear. Effective communication skills are essential for all these roles. However, evidence suggests a need for the enhancement of police communication skills. This is due to a spiralling trend of customer service complaints against police, as well as difficulties encountered by younger, inexperienced police working within disadvantaged communities and attempting to communicate effectively with community members, particularly youth. It is contended that contributing factors to these problematic community interactions include police not being able to effectively establish rapport with community members, as well as difficulties communicating with young people. This chapter explores enhancements to police communication training in which multidisciplinary communication skills from such disciplines as teaching, medicine and social work are incorporated.