Communication in today's fixes (part one)

Anyone who has ever worked as a police officer or a correction officer knows the following: it is either muscular or a brain that will make you go through the day. They also know that you must use both (sometimes) if you are successful in your work.

Those of us who work in the correctional profession know that most of the time, not all the time, the physical encounters that we encounter are the result of our actions. Now, I understand that some people may not agree with this, but this is a difficult reality. Where are we mistaken, which leads to this kind of confrontation? Connection

In fact, there are only two ways to communicate with people: verbal and non-verbal. Most of our communication (approximately 85-87%) is carried out through body language. We can all say when someone is upset, happy, crazy, angry, indifferent, you understand. When our body language says one thing, and our mouth talks about something else, we tend to run into problems. Inside the correctional facility, we do not have the luxury of firearms, tasers, or any other intermediate weapons on a regular basis. If you do, trust me when I tell you that we are all very jealous of you! What will it leave us? We combine mouth / brain and our hands.

True, some people have lost all the important connection between their brains and their mouths (also known as verbal diarrhea), but for the most part all others remain intact. As an instructor, I always ask my class the same question: “What is the difference between a correctional officer and a criminal?” As expected, the answers I receive are varied: “We are returning home at the end of the day!” “We are not killed! ”“ We raped anyone, ”and the list goes on. Then I stop and ask the question again.

At this point, they look at me in bewilderment. I answer them: “Although you are right that we have raped or not killed anyone, and we are returning home at the end of the day, the only difference between them and us is that they were caught, but we did not. “Then I ask:“ Who in this class has never, for all his life, done anything that someone is not doing time in a local, district, state or federal correctional institution? ”No hands up ...

Now keep in mind that I said: “Never, in all my life I have not done anything ...” We all have. Was it to steal something like a child or an adult (the office supplies someone?), He is still stealing. I got home after meeting with friends and said: “I shouldn’t have to go home!” (We heard the slogan “Creepy driving is drunk driving”). You understand.

Now that we have determined that they are the same as we are, let's establish another important fact: not everyone who is in prison will spend the rest of their lives in jail. They are going to go out and become our neighbors.

Correctional departments across the country have shifted their old way of doing business in the modern era: rehabilitation and reintegration. If we look at their statements about the Mission, we will most likely see a common theme: public safety, social behavior, reintegration and rehabilitation.

To effectively reintegrate and rehabilitate, we must do one thing: communicate. Communications in a correctional facility can be divided into 4 main categories:

1. Lack of communication

2. Operational communication

3. Human communication

4. Cognitive reflexive communication

No connection

Easy enough: we don’t say, they don’t say, we indicate what they do, as said, and we continue our cheerful journey. The officers are separated from the offenders, and the interaction is almost absent.

Operational communication

We are talking about the minimum minimum to do the work and maintain control (“Come here!” “Go there!” “Chow time” “Do it!” “Do not do it!” And so on. D. And so on. And t. . D.). Although there is still a separation between officers and offenders, the interaction is greater than without communication.

Human respect

This includes communicating with offenders as a person, as well as someone else you meet in public. At this stage, social communication is effectively carried out. Although the use of “please” and “thank you” in relation to the offender offends many correctional officers, it is part of respectful attitude and effective communication in the correctional institution. (Read more about this in “Communications in today's fixes”).

Cognitive reflective connection

This is the most difficult form of communication to achieve. It includes a person who wants to think and change his behavior, the thought process and accept the consequences of his actions. And what do most of us hate the most? Change! And it is for this reason that this is the most complex form of communication / thought process we have.

Once we learn to communicate effectively, we can reduce the number of problems we face at work every day and increase our “safety margin” exponentially. The proof is in the pudding ...