Non verbal communication in law enforcement

The purpose of this thesis is to give a larger view on the theme of non verbal communication in the context of law enforcement. The first chapter concerns initially about the difference between verbal and non verbal communication. Then, it explores what verbal communication consists of, and the systems of non verbal communication, like the proxemics, the visual, the kinetics and the vocal ones. Finally four are the examples of area application of non verbal communication: health, politics, courtrooms and police. The second chapter tells how the different cues concerning non verbal communication can be applied to police and to police officers; how they behave concretely to convey messages and emotions to others, how their physical aspect, their voice and body language in general can influence their attitude and impression to civilians. The third chapter consists of two anonymous interviews made to two police officers who work at the Questura of Treviso. I retained necessary and extremely interesting the formulation of these interviews because they are a personal report about what non verbal communication means to police officers, in the reality of the facts. It can be a curious prompt to understand how police apply non verbal gestures and if they consider necessary the study, through a course during the school to become officers for example, of non verbal communication.