Police Call-Takers' First Substantive Question Projects the Outcome of the Call

Autor/inn/en	Kent, Alexandra; Antaki, Charles
Titel	Police Call-Takers' First Substantive Question Projects the Outcome of the Call
Quelle	In: Applied Linguistics, 41 (2020) 5, S.640-661 (22 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0142-6001
DOI	10.1093/applin/amz002
Schlagwörter	Police; Telecommunications; Questioning Techniques; Data Collection; Foreign Countries; Interpersonal Communication; Information Seeking; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Telekommunikationstechnik; Befragungstechnik; Fragetechnik; Data capture; Datensammlung; Ausland; Interpersonale Kommunikation; Informationserschließung; Großbritannien
Abstract	Police call-takers need to gather as much data as is needed, as quickly as possible, to determine whether and what action should be taken. On analysing 514 calls to a UK centre handling emergency (999) and non-emergency (101) calls, we find that the call-taker's first substantive question already carries a diagnosis of the merits of the caller's case, and an implication of the call's likely outcome. Such questions come principally in four formats. On a gradient of increasing scepticism, these are requests for the caller's location (which are treated as indicating that police action will be taken); open-ended requests for further information (treated as neutral); and queries of the relevance of the incident or legitimacy of the caller, and reformulations of the caller's reason for calling (both projecting upcoming refusal of police action). We discuss the implications of this gradient for understanding how the call-takers manage their institutional goals. Data are in British English. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Oxford University Press. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, UK. Tel: +44-1865-353907; Fax: +44-1865-353485; e-mail: jnls.cust.serv@oxfordjournals.org; Web site: http://applij.oxfordjournals.org/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01