The modality of necessity in official police messages: comparison of imperative and deontological constructions in Russian and English press releases

This study aims to analyze modal strategies in police press releases in two languages — Russian and English — with the aim of identifying the frequency and typology of modal meanings which are expressed in this type of texts. The object of the study is official police announcements (specifically, Russian-language and English-language press releases) as a genre of official business and public communication. The subject of the study is imperative and deontological modal constructions, that is, linguistic means of expressing obligation, permission, and prohibition. The material for the study was a corpus of 60 press releases, of which 30 were in Russian (from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and regional departments), and 30 were in English (from the Metropolitan Police of London, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and others). The research methodology included discourse analysis, corpus analysis, comparative analysis, elements of pragmatic analysis, and an analysis of the functional semantics of the utterance. The analysis revealed that the most frequent sub-meanings are those of necessity conditioned by external circumstances (social, official, legal) and the influence of institutional will. Law enforcement press releases in both Russian and English predominantly feature indirect imperatives, represented by deontological constructions. Russian texts predominantly employ institutional-normative structures emphasizing the legal legitimacy of orders, while English texts favor performative and advisory forms reflecting a partnership strategy. The novelty of the research lies in identifying and systematizing linguistic strategies for expressing obligation, permission, and prohibition, as well as methods for softening and strengthening the direct nature characteristic of Russian-language and English-language police reports. This contributes to a comparative typology of modal meanings and their expressions. The research findings can be applied in training law enforcement specialists, press officers, and in teaching the translation of official institutional discourse. The findings can serve as the basis for developing methodological recommendations for law enforcement press officers.