Tactical Communication

In police work, 98% of arrests are achieved through communication alone. Physical force of any kind is only required in about 2% of arrests.

In non-police roles, communication is even more influential and force much less likely. Effective communication is the most important skill set to be achieved by anyone in a high-risk profession.

Tactical Communication, sometimes referred to as “Verbal Judo” or “Non-violent Crisis Intervention” is a communication system specific all levels of interaction with the public.

The primary aim of Tactical Communication is to “generate voluntary compliance.” To communicate in such a way as to de-escalate hostile and adversarial situations and persuade an uncooperative person to reconsider.

Communication is a force option that must be considered or attempted before a physical response can be justified.

Objectives

By the end of this course, the student will be able to:

Personality profiles: students are taught how to assess and be cognizant of the different dynamics at work in verbal interactions and how to anticipate and adjust their dialogue accordingly.

Professionalism: students will learn how to maintain a professional demeanor when interacting with members of the public regardless of the encounter is cooperative, adversarial, or somewhere in the middle.

De-escalation: to attempt to negotiate with an emotionally upset or hostile or individual is dangerous and unlikely to be successful. Students will learn how to reduce the intensity of emotional behavior and achieve a more civil and logical interaction.

Understanding: Communication is rife with the potential of misunderstanding. Students will learn a series of tactics to ensure that misunderstandings can be minimized.

Persuasion: Students will learn how to increase the probability of resistive or uncooperative behavior; to negotiate with someone who initially refused to cooperate and gain their voluntary compliance.

Communication Tactics: the students will be provided with concrete, repeatable “scripts” that they can practice and apply consistently over a wide range of interactions.

These tactics are constructed upon the strategies mentioned above and provide the student with specific communication tools that be adopted and refined through use.