Effective Communication as a Factor in Increasing Public Trust in the Police
Abstract
Abstract. The article presents a comprehensive theoretical and empirical study of the role of effective communication in shaping citizens’ trust in the National Police of Ukraine. It reveals the essence of police officers’ communicative competence as an integral professional quality that combines linguistic, psychological, sociocultural, and ethical components. The leading scholarly approaches to the structure of communicative competence are summarized, and the factors determining the specifics of interaction between police officers and citizens are identified. The influence of stylistic, behavioral, and speech-related aspects of official communication on the public perception of police legitimacy is defined. The article presents the results of two questionnaire-based studies: a survey of citizens regarding their level of trust in the police and a survey of cadets regarding the quality of their communicative training. The findings indicate that the key factors influencing citizens’ trust are professionalism, honesty, the absence of corruption, and the communication style of police officers. Cadets, in turn, acknowledge the critical importance of communicative competence and the need to strengthen practice-oriented training. Based on the analysis of theoretical principles and the survey results, practical directions for improving the communicative competence of police officers are proposed: enhancement of basic police education; implementation of psychological training; the use of conflict de-escalation methods; introducing mediation and the principles of community policing; and increasing transparency and openness in police work. The findings confirm that communicative competence is one of the decisive factors in forming trust in the police and an essential condition for the effective implementation of law enforcement functions in a democratic society.
Keywords: communicative competence; National Police; public trust; effective communication; de-escalation; mediation; community policing; police training.
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References
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