NTN FrontLine Police key terms

Techniques used to calm a tense encounter and lower the chance of violence, such as slowing down, lowering your voice, creating distance, and offering the other person clear choices.

Giving someone your full attention, then restating or questioning what they said to confirm you understood it. It signals respect and often uncovers facts you would otherwise miss.

The ability to recognize and acknowledge another person's feelings and point of view, even when you disagree. It does not mean giving in; it means showing that you heard them.

The principle that people accept outcomes more readily when the process feels fair: they were heard, treated with respect, and handled consistently and neutrally by the officer.

The impression of confidence, control, and professionalism an officer creates through posture, voice, and clear direction, which can keep a situation from escalating.

The lawful authority to choose among available options in a situation, guided by policy, the facts, and sound judgment rather than personal preference or emotion.

Specific, articulable facts that would lead an ordinary officer to believe a person may be involved in criminal activity. It is a lower standard than probable cause.

Unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that influence how a person perceives and reacts to others without intending to. Spotting it helps officers test their decisions for fairness.

Messages sent through posture, facial expression, gestures, eye contact, and tone of voice rather than words. Officers read these cues in others and control the ones they send.

A graduated range of response options, from mere presence and verbal commands up through deadly force, matched to the level of threat an officer reasonably faces.

The central point that an entire passage is built around. It is broader than any single sentence and is usually stated or strongly suggested near the beginning or end.

A conclusion you draw from evidence in the text combined with reasonable logic, even though the author never states it outright. Inferences must be supported, not merely guessed.

A specific fact, example, statistic, or reason that explains, proves, or illustrates the main idea of a passage.

Information in nearby words or sentences that helps you work out the meaning of an unfamiliar word without stopping to look it up.

The reason the writer produced the text, such as to inform, persuade, explain a procedure, or entertain. Purpose shapes the word choice and organization of a passage.

The writer's attitude toward the subject, revealed through word choice and phrasing, for example formal, urgent, neutral, sarcastic, or sympathetic.

A brief restatement of a passage's most important points in your own words, leaving out minor details, repeated ideas, and extended examples.

A fact can be verified with evidence, while an opinion expresses a belief, judgment, or feeling. Careful readers separate the two when weighing an argument.

The rule that a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb, no matter what words or phrases sit between them.

Two or more independent clauses joined with no punctuation, or with only a comma, so the sentence reads as one uncontrolled rush of ideas.

A specific kind of run-on in which two complete sentences are joined by a comma alone, with no conjunction such as and, but, or so.

A group of words punctuated as a sentence that lacks a subject, a verb, or a complete thought, so it cannot stand on its own.

The rule that a pronoun must match the noun it refers to in number and gender, so a singular noun takes a singular pronoun.

A sentence pattern in which the subject performs the action, as in 'The officer wrote the report.' It is usually clearer and more direct than passive voice.

Giving items in a list or series the same grammatical form, such as all verbs or all nouns, so the sentence reads smoothly and stays balanced.

A descriptive phrase that does not clearly attach to the word it is meant to describe, often producing an illogical or unintentionally confusing sentence.

Keeping verbs in the same tense throughout a passage unless the time of the action genuinely shifts, which prevents confusing jumps in a report.

Expressing an idea in the fewest words that carry the full meaning, cutting redundancy and empty phrases so the reader gets the point quickly.

A comparison of two quantities by division, such as 3 to 1, showing how much of one thing there is relative to another.

An equation stating that two ratios are equal, used to solve for an unknown value when quantities grow or shrink together at the same rate.

A way of expressing a number as a part of one hundred. To find a percent of a number, change the percent to a decimal and multiply.

The sum of a set of numbers divided by how many numbers are in the set. It is pulled up or down by unusually high or low values.

The middle value in a list arranged from smallest to largest; when the count is even, it is the average of the two middle values.

A rate stated per one unit of measure, such as miles per hour or cost per item, found by dividing one quantity by the other.

The agreed sequence for evaluating a math expression: parentheses first, then exponents, then multiplication and division, then addition and subtraction, working left to right.

The total distance around the outside of a flat shape, found by adding the lengths of all its sides.

The amount of surface a flat shape covers, measured in square units and calculated with formulas such as length times width for a rectangle.

The ratio between a measurement on a drawing, map, or diagram and the real distance it stands for, used to convert between the two.