Communication

Course Description

CJK0016 – Communication is a 24-hour course within Florida's 770-hour Law Enforcement Basic Recruit Training Program, carrying zero credit hours as a clock-hour academy component.

The course covers the skill an officer uses more than any other. Most of policing is talking: obtaining information from people who may not want to give it, giving directions that get followed, calming a situation that is escalating, and transmitting accurate information over a radio to people who cannot see what the officer sees. Force is rare; communication is constant.

Content divides into three areas. Interpersonal communication covers active listening, questioning technique, nonverbal behavior, and adapting approach to the person and the situation. Radio and agency communication covers protocol, clarity, brevity, the phonetic alphabet, and the dispatch relationship — including the discipline of transmitting only accurate information under stress. De-escalation and verbal control covers recognizing escalation, techniques for reducing it, and communicating with people in crisis, under the influence, or with mental illness or disability.

Contemporary versions of the curriculum place substantial weight on de-escalation and on communication across cultural and language differences, reflecting both professional practice and public expectation. The course is scenario-heavy: recruits practice rather than merely study.

The course is offered at approximately 20 Florida institutions, all of them state colleges operating criminal justice training centers or regional public safety academies: Chipola, College of Central Florida, College of the Florida Keys, Daytona State, Eastern Florida State, Florida Gateway, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Gulf Coast State, Hillsborough, Indian River State, Miami Dade, North Florida, Northwest Florida State, Palm Beach State, Pasco-Hernando, Pensacola State, Santa Fe, South Florida State, St. Johns River, and Seminole State.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Apply active listening techniques to obtain accurate and complete information.
• Use open and closed questioning appropriately to elicit information.
• Interpret nonverbal communication and recognize behavioral indicators of escalation or deception.
• Give clear, lawful verbal direction and obtain compliance without force where possible.
• Apply de-escalation techniques to reduce tension in a developing confrontation.
• Communicate effectively with persons in crisis, including those with mental illness, cognitive disability, or under the influence.
• Adapt communication approach across cultural, generational, and language differences.
• Transmit and receive radio communication using correct protocol, clear text, and the phonetic alphabet.
• Communicate accurately with dispatch and other units under time pressure.
• Describe the officer's role in courtroom testimony and professional communication with other agencies.
• Demonstrate professional communication in scenario-based exercises.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) principles and their application.
• Use interpretation services and communicate with limited-English-proficient individuals.
• Communicate with persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, consistent with ADA obligations.
• Describe media interaction and public information protocols.
• Apply procedural justice principles to routine public contacts.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• The communication process — sender, message, receiver, and the barriers that distort each.
• Active listening — attending, paraphrasing, reflecting, and summarizing.
• Questioning technique — open and closed questions, and sequencing for accurate information.
• Nonverbal communication — body language, proxemics, and pre-attack indicators.
• Verbal direction and compliance — lawful commands, clarity, and escalation of verbal authority.
• De-escalation — recognizing escalation, tactical repositioning, time, and verbal techniques.
• Communicating in crisis — mental illness, cognitive and developmental disability, intoxication, and trauma.
• Cultural and language differences — adapting approach and using interpretation resources.
• Radio communication — protocol, clear text, phonetic alphabet, brevity, and accuracy under stress.
• Dispatch relationship — information flow, status updates, and requesting assistance.
• Professional and courtroom communication — testimony, interagency contact, and written follow-through.
• Scenario practice — role-play under the state lesson plan.

Optional Topics

• Crisis Intervention Team principles.
• ADA communication obligations and accommodations.
• Media relations and public information.
• Procedural justice and legitimacy.
• Conflict resolution and mediation techniques.

Resources & Tools

• CJSTC Law Enforcement Basic Recruit Training Program curriculum — the state lesson plan; authoritative for content and testing.
• FDLE Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission — curriculum revisions and the SOCE.
• Agency radio codes and communication policy — Florida agencies have largely moved to clear text rather than ten-codes; the local standard governs.
• Training radios and simulated dispatch for practical exercises.
• Scenario role-play with instructors and trained role-players.
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and local mobile crisis resources — referral points officers should know.

Career Pathways

• Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officer (SOC 33-3051) — municipal and county agencies statewide.
• State Law Enforcement — Florida Highway Patrol, FDLE, and FWC.
• Detective and Criminal Investigator (SOC 33-3021) — where interviewing skill becomes the central competency.
• Crisis Intervention Team officer — a specialization building directly on this course.
• School Resource Officer and Community Policing assignments.
• Public Safety Telecommunicator — a related career with its own Florida certification.

Special Information

Where this course sits in the academy

The Law Enforcement Basic Recruit Training Program (LEBRTP) is a 770-hour academy required for certification as a sworn law enforcement officer under Chapter 943, Florida Statutes. The curriculum is written and maintained by the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission (CJSTC) through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, so content is consistent statewide. The full sequence:

• CJK0002 Introduction to Law Enforcement (12 hrs) · CJK0016 Communication (24) · CJK0096 Officer Physical Fitness (60)
• CJK0018 Legal (64) · CJK0031C First Aid for CJ Officers (40) · CJK0020C LE Vehicle Operations (48)
• CJK0072 Crimes Against Persons (48) · CJK0073 Crimes Involving Property and Society (12)
• CJK0019 Interviewing and Report Writing (56) · CJK0063 Fundamentals of Patrol (40) · CJK0021 Serving Your Community (34)
• CJK0051C Defensive Tactics (80) · CJK0079 Crime Scene Follow-up Investigations (34) · CJK0400 Traffic Incidents (12)
• CJK0040C Criminal Justice Firearms (80) · CJK0401 Traffic Stops (24) · CJK0402 Traffic Crash Investigations (30)
• CJK0403 DUI Traffic Stops (24) · CJK0093 Critical Incidents (44) · CJK0421 CEW/Dart-Firing Stun Gun (4)

Every component is a clock-hour course carrying zero credit hours, and none counts toward an associate degree.

Certification

Completing this course does not certify anyone. Recruits must finish the full 770-hour academy, pass the State Officer Certification Examination (SOCE), and satisfy the employment and background requirements of Chapter 943, F.S. Certification is granted by CJSTC, not by the college, and an officer must also be employed by an agency to be certified.

Admission

Requirements attach to the academy rather than to this individual course: minimum age 19, U.S. citizenship, high school diploma or equivalent, no felony convictions or disqualifying misdemeanors, a background investigation, a physical examination and drug screening, and a passing score on the Florida Basic Abilities Test (CJBAT). Requirements are set in statute and by the training center.

Articulation

Academy training is PSAV clock-hour instruction, not college credit, and does not transfer as general education. Many Florida colleges award block credit toward an A.S. in Criminal Justice Technology for full academy completion plus certification, under local articulation agreements rather than statewide SCNS equivalency. Confirm terms with the receiving institution.

Crossover programs

Officers already certified in another discipline — corrections to law enforcement, for instance — complete abbreviated crossover programs drawing on a subset of these courses rather than the full academy. Candidates should work from the crossover curriculum published by their training center.

The relationship to CJK0019

This course covers spoken communication; CJK0019, Interviewing and Report Writing (56 hours) covers the structured interview and the written product. They are complementary and sequential — the listening and questioning skills established here are what the interviewing course builds on. Recruits who do not develop the habits here tend to struggle there.

Why this is 24 hours and not fewer

Communication is the most frequently used tool in policing and the one with the clearest effect on outcomes. De-escalation content in particular has expanded in recent curriculum revisions, reflecting both professional practice and public expectation. Instructors generally treat the scenario work as the core of the course, not a supplement to lecture — the skill is behavioral, and it is assessed by demonstration.