Law enforcement is a profession whose members are expected to show courtesy more often and more effusively than perhaps any other class of professionals. As a topic, "the practice of courtesy by department members is frequently discussed whenever law enforcement administrators gather. After all, few areas generate such a volume of complaints from citizens." (Lange, 1989, p. 35).
Although Manning (1988) correctly observes that, "the police have evolved technologically sophisticated equipment to cope with increased citizen demand, but messages are received, interpreted, processed, transformed, and allocated for resolution within socially patterned relationships" (pp. 4-5), there is virtually nothing written about building and maintaining interpersonal relationships within the law enforcement setting. There is, however, an abundance of literature concerning courtesy and politeness, in general, as well as dealing with interpersonal conflict.
Although Lange's (1989) article deals specifically with police-community relations, it does offer some "guidelines" which can be applied in an interpersonal (officer-to-officer) setting. Some of these are identified as: tone of voice, voice volume, body language, profanity, demeaning remarks, and listening (pp. 35-36, 38).
Law enforcement officers are trained to take command in chaotic circumstances. Exhibiting command presence invokes certain tone of voice, voice volume, and body language characteristics which may be of significant value in a public setting, but are totally out of context in the confines of a station locker room. Here, the camaraderie of the profession should be the leading influence; courtesies extended between fellow officers should be the norm even if they are lacking in the police-community relationship.
But Harris (1992) observes that "courtesy sometimes fails. . . . some traditionally courteous acts (are interpreted) as being patronizing or con...