• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • The Magazine
  • Events
  • Partners
  • Products
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Subscribe to the Magazine
American Police Beat

American Police Beat Magazine

Law Enforcement Publication

  • Home
  • Editor’s Picks
    • The power of teamwork
      Stay awake and alert on the job
      The worst rank in law enforcement
      Firearms maintenance
      Why fries need salt
  • Topics
    • On the Job
      • “Take care of your veterans”: Massachusetts police save suicidal...
        The problems with loyalty
        My experience being a Black woman in policing
        Tucson tries new tact to fight crime
        2022 Top Cops
    • Labor
      • Nearly 800 law enforcement jobs in Connecticut are up for grabs
        Philadelphia may rehire officers and civilian employees to fill...
        Chicago police recruit Marines to help address officer shortage
        Illinois State Police announce lateral training program with added...
        The “great resignation” brings staffing troubles to Missouri law...
    • Tech
      • NYPD deploys K-9s with innovative electronic harness to prevent...
        Understanding end-to-end encryption apps
        Local law enforcement agencies learn to recover stolen cryptocurrency
        New York mayor proposes gun detection scanners after rise in subway...
        Hacker group steals data from multiple law enforcement data systems...
    • Training
      • An equation for performing lawful Terry stops
        A Connecticut police chief says his department needs more drug...
        “The hidden danger is the water”
        Weapon retention
        Developing trauma-informed training and drills for K–12 schools
    • Policy
      • Philadelphia spends almost a billion dollars on policing in new...
        Supreme Court decision protects police officers against civil...
        Chicago police limit foot pursuits under new policy intended to...
        Putting the brakes on wandering cops
        Detroit police team up with federal law enforcement agencies to fight...
    • Health/Wellness
      • True detectives: Psychological realities of investigative work
        Effective use of chaplain services
        Things I learned as a retiree
        Normalization of deviance
        The nobility of policing
    • Community
      • Miami Heat and nonprofit build bridges between law enforcement and...
        Right place, right time: Off-duty Florida police officer braves house...
        Community steps up to support Rhode Island police officer brothers...
        Safety exchange zones
        Crime problems are community problems
    • Offbeat
      • Iowa police and fire agencies, community team up to rescue bulldog...
        Buzz fuzz: NYPD “bee unit” officers remove swarms from various...
        Only in Florida: Police snipers provide backup during...
        Longtime Maryland con man arrested for impersonating U.S. marshal
        Seattle cancels and refunds seven months of parking tickets due to...
    • We Remember
      • Memorializing our fallen sisters
        Paying Tribute to Fallen Heroes
        National Law Enforcement Memorial expands to accommodate more names
        National Police Week
        “It’s not enough to never forget anymore”
  • On the Job
    • “Take care of your veterans”: Massachusetts police save suicidal...
      The problems with loyalty
      My experience being a Black woman in policing
      Tucson tries new tact to fight crime
      2022 Top Cops
  • Labor
    • Nearly 800 law enforcement jobs in Connecticut are up for grabs
      Philadelphia may rehire officers and civilian employees to fill...
      Chicago police recruit Marines to help address officer shortage
      Illinois State Police announce lateral training program with added...
      The “great resignation” brings staffing troubles to Missouri law...
  • Tech
    • NYPD deploys K-9s with innovative electronic harness to prevent...
      Understanding end-to-end encryption apps
      Local law enforcement agencies learn to recover stolen cryptocurrency
      New York mayor proposes gun detection scanners after rise in subway...
      Hacker group steals data from multiple law enforcement data systems...
  • Training
    • An equation for performing lawful Terry stops
      A Connecticut police chief says his department needs more drug...
      “The hidden danger is the water”
      Weapon retention
      Developing trauma-informed training and drills for K–12 schools
  • Policy
    • Philadelphia spends almost a billion dollars on policing in new...
      Supreme Court decision protects police officers against civil...
      Chicago police limit foot pursuits under new policy intended to...
      Putting the brakes on wandering cops
      Detroit police team up with federal law enforcement agencies to fight...
  • Health/Wellness
    • True detectives: Psychological realities of investigative work
      Effective use of chaplain services
      Things I learned as a retiree
      Normalization of deviance
      The nobility of policing
  • Community
    • Miami Heat and nonprofit build bridges between law enforcement and...
      Right place, right time: Off-duty Florida police officer braves house...
      Community steps up to support Rhode Island police officer brothers...
      Safety exchange zones
      Crime problems are community problems
  • Offbeat
    • Iowa police and fire agencies, community team up to rescue bulldog...
      Buzz fuzz: NYPD “bee unit” officers remove swarms from various...
      Only in Florida: Police snipers provide backup during...
      Longtime Maryland con man arrested for impersonating U.S. marshal
      Seattle cancels and refunds seven months of parking tickets due to...
  • We Remember
    • Memorializing our fallen sisters
      Paying Tribute to Fallen Heroes
      National Law Enforcement Memorial expands to accommodate more names
      National Police Week
      “It’s not enough to never forget anymore”
  • Between the Lines
    • Persecution of the LEO is Classic Schadenfreude
      The Rule of Law is Worthless Without Order
      School policing: a paradox of the defund movement
      Defending the honor of the LE profession – finally!
      The dichotomy of the defund movement: reality setting in
  • About
  • The Magazine
  • Events
  • Partners
  • Products
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Search

On the Job

The art — and value — of listening

Brian Mc Vey Published March 12, 2019 @ 9:00 am PDT

Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you I talk more than I listen. My old man lovingly nicknamed me variously as The Lip, The Lipper and The Yapper. For some people, listening is difficult; for others, listening comes easily and it is a quality characteristic that they’re known for. 

For those in law enforcement and with all the listening that officers do, you’d think that we’d be good at it. Wrong! In fact, most people are not. Research in Edgar Dale’s Cone of Experience suggests that we generally remember 20 percent of what we hear and 50 percent of what we see and hear. This means that when you are receiving directions or being presented with any kind of information, you aren’t hearing the whole message. The same goes for whom you’re talking to. Turn on any major news outlet and you will see a panel of men and woman talking over each other all day. Have you seen this behavior on the street?  

Any officer will tell you that they are a good listener. But, odds are, their spouse will tell you differently. Unfortunately, listening is a lost skill in our social media age. We constantly scan the internet for what we want to see and hear, and then we look for a stage to say, “Look at me.” Listening is something that costs nothing yet is worth its weight in gold.

Great officers I worked with were great listeners; they were patient and seized the needed information by simply listening. Officers need to get information from witnesses, victims, offenders and that “Nosey Nancy Neighbor” who sees everything on their block.  Many of my mentors are excellent listeners. They not only sense what was going on, they also could listen and filter out the noise and listen to the whispers. When you don’t listen, you don’t know what you are missing.

As you know, a lack of communication between you and others in your department not only can hurt feelings and lead to lower morale, but also, more seriously, increase the risk of officers getting seriously injured or killed. To sharpen listening skills, you need persistence and repetition. Here are a few suggestions from a mentor that have helped others become a better listening officer. 

  1. Resist the temptation to monopolize conversation. Before you speak, make sure the other party has had a chance to make their point. Officers are lied to daily; try to listen so you can filter out the truth.
  2. Don’t fake attention. It’s usually quite easy for a person to recognize that our “uh-huhs” are really “OK, let’s get this over with; I am hungry.”
  3. Listen for facts. When officers truly listen, we can retain and understand the overall facts, which makes the job much easier.
  4. Be alert to nonverbal clues or body language. Try to not only listen to what a citizen is saying, but also to understand the attitudes and motives that lie behind the words. Listen and watch for gestures, posture, facial expressions and tone of voice.

As seen in the March 2019 issue of American Police Beat magazine.
Don’t miss out on another issue today! Click below:

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Categories: On the Job

Primary Sidebar

Recent Articles

  • Nearly 800 law enforcement jobs in Connecticut are up for grabs
  • Philadelphia spends almost a billion dollars on policing in new budget aimed at addressing gun violence
  • Miami Heat and nonprofit build bridges between law enforcement and community
  • Right place, right time: Off-duty Florida police officer braves house fire to rescue trapped children
  • “Take care of your veterans”: Massachusetts police save suicidal veteran
  • Iowa police and fire agencies, community team up to rescue bulldog stuck in sinkhole
  • Community steps up to support Rhode Island police officer brothers who lost everything in a house fire
  • Supreme Court decision protects police officers against civil lawsuits over Miranda rights violations
  • NYPD deploys K-9s with innovative electronic harness to prevent terrorist attacks
  • The problems with loyalty

Footer

Our Mission
To serve as a trusted voice of the nation’s law enforcement community, providing informative, entertaining and inspiring content on interesting and engaging topics affecting peace officers today.

Contact us: info@apbweb.com

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Categories

  • Editor’s Picks
  • On the Job
  • Labor
  • Tech
  • Training
  • Policy
  • Health/Wellness
  • Community
  • Offbeat
  • We Remember
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Events

Editor’s Picks

The power of teamwork

The power of teamwork

July 23, 2021

Stay awake and alert on the job

Stay awake and alert on the job

July 20, 2021

The worst rank in law enforcement

The worst rank in law enforcement

July 19, 2021

Firearms maintenance

Firearms maintenance

July 04, 2021

Privacy Policy | Copyright © 2022 APB Media, LLC | Website design, development and maintenance by 911MEDIA

Open

Subscribe

Close
Receive the latest news and updates from American Police Beat directly to your inbox!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.