When Your Words Fail: The (Hidden) Impact of Making Communication Errors in Suspect Interviews and Suicide Negotiations

Making communication errors affects law enforcement officers’ thoughts and feelings during suspect interviews and suicide negotiations. Specifically, these errors can lead to more negative emotions such as self-oriented anger, shame, and guilt, as well as stress in suspect interviews, and distraction in suicide negotiations.
Law enforcement officers may use a variety of responses to resolve communication errors, ranging from taking responsibility by apologizing, exploring what is going on, deflecting blame, or providing unrelated comments.
Taking part in the role-playing exercise that was designed for this study, and reviewing the study results, allowed law enforcement officers to safely experience and reflect on the consequences of communication errors. Learning more about how to handle communication errors helps officers to mentally prepare for real-world interactions and enhance their emotional awareness, as well as improve their ability to support colleagues during and after incidents