Non-Verbal Communication in the Work of the Police in the United States of America

Abstract

Official police uniform is the object by which people identify the authority. When someone on the street is in need of help, he tries to “scan” the crowds of pedestrians looking for the uniform of a police officer. Uniform influence also criminals’ behavior who usually curb their unlawful doings when there is a uniformed police officer on a horizon. Respect and trust to a person in the police uniform is taught almost from the childhood . Law enforcement training academies teach police officers to observe the body gestures of individuals they question. Knowledge on nonverbal communication is essential in the work of the police because criminals, just as predatory animals, search out the weakest prey, using the same tactics. Law enforcement officers must always remember that, while they observe potential criminals and their movements the “scanning” goes also in the opposite direction . Each movement of the police officer and his gestures are carefully watched by the perpetrator in the hope of finding a weakness.