Emblems: Enhancing your Ability to Operate using Non-verbal Communication Skills in Security and Policing
In both security and law enforcement, emblems, particularly “emblematic slips”, have a potent capability to significantly enhance the efficacy of personnel.
These non-verbal signals, whether purposeful or unintentional, convey deep-seated meanings, considerably influencing interactions and encounters, especially in threat detection and tactical questioning scenarios. Understanding the subtleties of emblematic slips allows security and law enforcement personnel to decipher the silent language that guides their daily communication.
In this brief article, we will highlight some of the benefits of spotting emblematic slips during security and law enforcement operations.
Introduction
As part of our N-VSAT Programme we introduce our learners to emblems and the importance of emblematic slips for threat detection and wider security operations.
Emblems* are nonverbal gestures that have a specific meaning that is understood by a specific group, class and/or subculture.
We can use emblematic slips (their unintentional use) to detect emotional leakage in the people we are interacting with.
Because of their unique place among other illustrators and cues, specific emblems can be used to detect threat in the form of Hostile intent and aggression, which may help you identify threats before they fully manifest.
Emblems can be expressed using the whole body but for this article we will focus primarily on slips of the hand.
Emblematic Slips
Emblematic slips can play a pivotal role in revealing emotional leakage in individuals under observation. More specifically, certain emblems can be instrumental in identifying threats, notably those cues linked to hostile intent and aggression.
Emblematic Slips in Threat Detection and Tactical Questioning
There’s a difference between what we say and what we think, and the way that our body’s have evolved over millions of years favour the non-verbal channel of communication; it’s our OG, our original communication channel.
As security and law enforcement personnel, understanding this primal form of communication can be crucial in effectively uncovering these hidden messages.
Emblems hold a special place in body language as they send a specific message.
Access Control and Security Operations
Threat manifests in a number of ways but we can start by looking at some of the emotions that are behind hostile intentions and aggressive behaviour; mainly Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Contempt. Spotting these emotions out of context is a great way at identifying threats before they fully manifest.
Examples of [just some] of the emblems linked to Hostile Intent and aggression include [but are not limited to]
- Clenched Fist: Clenching your fists is a hybrid gesture — to call it an emblem can be a bit of a stretch but it fits, and it’s a representation of tension manifested in the body. The evolution of this is creating a ball and socket connection by placing your fist into the palm of your hand which then develops into a rehearsal.
- Flipping the bird: In western culture, the second finger in from the thumb (singular) and when combined with the first finger from the thumb (double) can represent hostile intent or the presence of negativity.
- Claw/Scratch/Mauling: Making a claw or grabbing action can be an indicator of aggression and hostile intent often displayed to represent frustration.
Where this is not a complete list nor a guarantee for threat detection, by training your team to identify these “out of context” emblems can greatly enhance your chances of spotting threat before it fully manifests.
Interviewing and tactical questioning
During Interview and tactical questioning sessions, it’s important to spot any emotional leakage; emblematic slips can indicate this and be fairly reliable indicators.
Now we should always be looking for emotional leakage during these engagements, but where emblematic slips come in handy is our ability to assign certain emotions and messages to the gesture, then apply that to the context of the questions being asked.
Where gestures such as a person covering their suprasternal notch or compressing their lips can indicate discomfort thus representing a trigger point for the person conducting the interview; an emblematic slip can really help you hone in your line of questioning.
For example, if you are interviewing a suspect about her relationship with her spouse and her face is smiling but she’s giving you the two fingered salute, then you can use that message to build on your line of questioning.
Emblems such as the shoulder shrug which may slip out in the form of a “partial shoulder shrug”, “turtling of the chin or neck” , “pulling down of the lips”, or flip of the hand can be easy to miss but give us a lot of information during a round of questioning.
The problem we have though is we are looking for emblematic slips, and not emblems. Life would be a lot easier if people were walking up to us “flipping the bird” or with fisticuffs at the ready like a bad 80’s movie, but the reality is that people who intend to deceive us or even worse, do us harm, are likely to want to mask their true emotions.
Spotting a slip
Emblematic slips are a little less obvious if you aren’t looking for them, because they appear outside the context of the engagement. There may be a brief flick of the hand that usually occurs outside of your line of sight, but they hold a wealth of information about an individual’s true intentions and emotions. As security and law enforcement personnel, being able to spot these slips can make all the difference in effectively detecting and preventing potential threats.
Slips can manifest wherever the hands rest; examples include people resting their hands on their legs and “tapping” their middle finger on their thighs, displaying their middle finger against their face, or covering their mouth. Briefly turning their palms up to indicate a shoulder shrug, whilst flashing a micro-expression across their face or quickly flashing an emblem and then immediately returning to a more relaxed state. These are just some of the subtle, yet telling ways that slips can occur in everyday interactions.
Noticing these slips may seem like a small detail, but when put into practice they can provide valuable insights into potential threats and allow for more effective tactical questioning techniques.
In Conclusion: A New Approach to Security
In essence, the art of detecting emblematic slips and deciphering the concealed emotions they express is an unparalleled asset in security and law enforcement fields. Our N-VSAT Programme is meticulously curated to bestow upon you such skills, rendering it an indispensable addition to anyone’s professional toolkit involved in security operations, threat detection, and tactical questioning.
By delving into the knowledge and training offered by our programme, you’re not just learning; you’re investing in advancing your ability to foresee potential threats by recognising signs of aggression and hostile intent before they escalate.
*Context
As with anything related to security and threat detection, we need to look at the whole picture. We should never read in isolation and make sure we apply context to our engagements; a single emblematic slip won’t ever be the only indicator to hostile intent or aggression but by paying attention to subtle differences in a persons body language it could be the key to averting a potentially dangerous situation.
