by
Randy Emon
www.IronGuys.Org

One of the most volatile types of calls any police officer can handle is that of a domestic dispute between a husband and wife or domestic partners.  When police officers arrive at these disputes, officers will routinely separate the two parties far enough away from the other in order to get their side of the story while still maintaining visual sight of the other officer at all times.  One thing I discovered early in my career was to never smile while speaking to either of the domestic partners or spouses.  Why?  Let’s say I smiled while listening to the husband’s side of the story and the wife saw me.  I found that doing so, the wife felt I was instantly taking sides with her husband and the situation would often escalate with the wife’s anger now focused at both her husband and me.  After law enforcement officers have handled a few of these domestic calls, they quickly learn to be stone-faced at all times to avoid the appearance of favoring one party over the other.

Another non-verbal communication technique practiced by law enforcement officers is the use of hand signals.  The most common hand signal street cops will use between themselves is displaying four fingers (Code 4) which means they don’t need any help.  For instance, during a domestic dispute, I’ve sometimes found it hard to determine if my partner/officer was OK so, I’d flash him/her four fingers with an inquisitive look on my face.  The other officer instantly knew I was concerned for their safety and if they responded with four fingers, then I knew the officer was OK.  If they did not respond with four fingers, I’d know the situation was escalating and the other officer might need immediate assistance.  Over the years, I have come to rely not only on non-verbal communication (such as hand signals), but after frequently working with the same officer(s) over and over, we’d learn to trust and depend on the other officers non-verbal mannerisms, demeanor and actions which can communicate whether a state of danger exists or not.  After working with the same officers for a while, we intuitively knew what the other was going to say or do which made our jobs much easier over the years.

Even my children would pick up on my non-verbal mannerisms especially when I would lower my head and glare at them over the top of my glasses.  Whenever they saw that, they knew I meant business.

I came across an interesting story in the Book of Exodus which also depicted some non-verbal communication with an awesome message.  Let’s see if you can pick up on it, “Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together and said to them, ‘Go, pick out a lamb or young goat for each of your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. Drain the blood into a basin. Then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it into the blood. Brush the hyssop across the top and sides of the doorframes of your houses. And no one may go out through the door until morning.’”¹

Moses told the Israelites to perform this procedure so that the death angel would pass over their home sparing their lives.  So, did you catch it?  Check out this non-verbal message:  The blood of the lamb or goat was to be drained in a basin at the entrance of their front door where normally the dusty feet of family or guests would be cleaned.  Then they were to take a branch from a bush (like a paint brush) and then dip it in the blood.

Let’s digress for a moment.  Imagine you’re standing at the front door to your home.  The directions said to bend over, dip the brush in the blood and brush the blood on top of the door. (By doing so, you’ve just created an imaginary vertical straight line in the middle of the door.)  Now while standing (at chest height), next, you’re to brush the blood on the left and right door frames.  (You just created an imaginary horizontal straight line).  Have you picked up on the non-verbal communication yet?  If not, try it on a piece of paper. Draw a door and then draw the lines.  Wow!  Yes, it is a cross.

Isn’t that non-verbal picture awesome? 

Ya see, even on the night of the Passover, over a thousand years prior, we we’re being pointed to the saving blood of the Cross of Christ who was yet to come and save us from eternal death.  All I can say is WOW!