You might recognize the title of this column. It's one of the great lines from the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia. The line is used twice in the movie; once in court by an attorney, in an attempt to get a witness to elaborate, and once in the jury room - during deliberations - when the jury foreperson uses it in a derisive way. It's a clever line, and is very effective in its movie context.
While officers don't need to put things in quite such a simplistic way, we do need to make sure that we are saying what we mean to say, and that our intended audience hears what we mean them to hear.
In other words, we need to make sure we know what we're talking about, and then we need to make sure that our audience "get's it." While this seems like a simple task, many of us are pretty bad at it.
There are a million examples of where we fail in this basic communication effort in law enforcement. In fact, if you can't think of ten examples off the top of your head, you're not even trying. However, let me give you a couple so that you'll see exactly what I mean.
I was teaching a class a while back, and was happy that the class members kept asking probing, relevant questions. However, as we got deeper into the material, I noticed that some in the class were mixing up their terminology. I was confident that this was not a weakness in the students' language skills, but rather an indicator of their desire to make themselves understood. In their haste to spell out their talking points, sometimes they would mix terms like "negligence" and "qualified immunity". They knew what they were trying to say, and they knew the meaning of the words they were using. The problem was that they had a lot to say, and were searching for just the right words to make their point. Occasionally, in their haste to make a point, they would plug in words in the wrong places. I knew what they meant, and they knew what they meant, so what was the problem? The problem was that they were thinking faster than they could talk.
We've all heard performers and politicians use words inappropriately. By that I mean choosing the wrong word to convey their meaning. At other times, they will intentionally mis-use a word in order to get a laugh. In these contexts there is little harm.
Quite the opposite effect can occur when we use the wrong words in our professional context. Making statements casually or using misleading terminology can cause problems for officers, up to and including serious injury.
Speaking inappropriately can also create legal problems, both during the reporting of an incident, and during the documentation stage. Then there is court, where your statements will be put on the record - under oath - and speaking inappropriately can get your case dismissed, and could result in sanctions against you.
Many of us are trainers and supervisors. Much of what we say - and do, for that matter - will be absorbed by people who may pass it on to others in their "circle". When we use words improperly, or fail to use the correct terms, we are conveying inaccurate information to other officers. They may go forth and actually do what you just told them to do. Using the words and information they got from you, they will act upon it (and pass it on to other officers). If one of their students also becomes a trainer, your wrong information may get passed down from generation to generation of cops.
The receiver of the information needs to take care in his or her responses, as well. If they are unclear about what you are saying, they should speak up and ask you to repeat or rephrase your question.
Sometimes the hardest thing is to make sure that you are being understood.
Stay safe, and wear your vest!
