Professionally Important Communication Skills of Traffic Police Inspectors

Introduction. The purpose is to define the most valuable communication skills and abilities of traffic police inspectors. Materials and Methods. Two methods were used to determine the degree of intensiveness of communicative skills: the first was based on the method of hidden self-assessments and the second — on the basis of the method of expert assessments. The Orel Law Institute of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs was the basis for the research. The surveyed included 32 novice inspectors of traffic police service. The selection of marker skills was carried out with the help of 24 experts (16 traffic police inspectors with at least five years' experience and 8 university psychology teachers). Results and Discussion. Communication skills of traffic police interns are below average, and most inspectors have some difficulty in communication. The more successfully functions are performed, the lower the rates of variability are. Persuasiveness in the explanation, establishing contact, ability to control emotions, manifesting interest in the interlocutor have an influence on the completeness of the performed functions as a whole. Conclusions. The most valuable are the following six skills: establishing contact; convincing explanation; demonstrating interest in the interlocutor; preventing conflicts; demonstrating kindness in conversation; and encouraging the interlocutor by «word». All this proves it necessary to introduce corrections in the training programs.