Police’s first words: the police as a speech communicator

Language is the most important work tool for the police, but information on the use of language and speech in police tasks is available in a limited amount. The project will examine from the point of view of an interaction study the practices of speech communication that the police use in their work and whether the simulation training used in the police supports the learning of these practices. The project focuses on three police speech communication contexts: encounters between citizens and the police, encounters between the police and media, as well as police interaction training. 

Timescale: March 2020 – February 2023

Funding: Kone Foundation, a personal senior researcher grant of EUR 122,100

Contact persons at the Police University College: Researcher Samu Pehkonen and specialist researcher Jarmo Houtsonen. Pehkonen’s email is in the format [email protected], otherwise emails are in the format [email protected].