Law Enforcement and Courteous Behaviors

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 o

. . .
efined home as "a place where you can scratch where it itches"--that is, where one is allowed to be casual (p. 98). In this context, the station substitutes as "home," the place to be casual during the broader work environment. Suggesting that the tensions of the "street" should be left outside the door is easier said than done. Tensions, nevertheless, can accumulate to the point of conflict. Such conflict can be retained internally or expressed outwardly; when they surface and become external, interpersonal conflicts result. Rahim and Magner (1995) have identified five styles of handling interpersonal conflict: integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding, and compromising (p. 123). Each of these styles is defined by its balance of concern for self and for that of others. The integrating style values a high concern for both self and others; avoiding incorporates both low concern for self and low concern for others. Obliging and dominating styles are also polar opposites: the former is associated with high concern for others and low concern for self, while the latter chooses to value concern for self over that of others. The compromising style seeks a moderating position, attempting to resolve conflict in a give-a
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
, Willard Gaylin, Ward Aronoff, Rahim Magner, Instead Lange, Returning Lange's, According Lange, Journal Philosophy, Utne Reader, February Confirmatory, law enforcement, concern self, ward aronoff 1994, ward aronoff, aronoff 1994, lange 1989, low concern, enforcement officers, interpersonal relationships, interpersonal conflict, tone voice, law enforcement officers, voice voice volume, voice volume body, tone voice voice,
Approximate Word count = 1669
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)