Main Article Content
Abstract
Language is a central instrument of policing: through it, the police inform the public, assert authority, justify actions and build or erode public trust. This study undertook a linguistic stylistic analysis of the language used by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Imo State Command, Owerri. It sought to identify the lexical, grammatical, graphological and discourse features of the Command's public communication and to explain the functions these features serve. The study adopted a qualitative descriptive design and was anchored on Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics, with Leech and Short's levels of stylistic analysis as the analytical model. Data comprised press releases issued by the Command's Public Relations Office, public notices and signposts at police formations in Owerri, purposively selected for their representativeness of the Command's public discourse. Findings revealed a distinctive institutional register marked by legal-administrative and security jargon, euphemism, formulaic expressions, nominalisation, agentless passive constructions, long complex sentences, honorific and evaluative modifiers for officers and stigmatising labels for suspects, conventionalised graphological layout, and a recurrent narrative structure moving from incident to police action to public advisory. These features function to project authority and professionalism, legitimise police action, distance the institution from responsibility for adverse outcomes, and shape public perception. The study concludes that the Command's language is strategically constructed but sometimes sacrifices clarity and public engagement. It recommends plain-language training for police public relations officers, more balanced presentation of suspects, and greater use of indigenous languages and accessible formats in public communication.