NCJ Number
80986
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 5 Issue: 2/3 Dated: special issue (1981) Pages: 231-236
Date Published
1981
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The study compared how well a group of experienced British police officers can identify offense incidents on video tape with those of a group of young officers and a group of British civilians.
Abstract
Subjects were shown a video tape of an urban street corner scene containing a number of staged incidents including criminal offenses, suspicious circumstances, and traffic offenses. They were asked to note down all incidents they perceived during viewing. No significant differences were found between the three groups in the total number of incidents identified. However, inexperienced police officers showed the highest reporting of traffic offenses and experienced officers the lowest. In each group, an inverse relationship existed between the number of traffic offenses and criminal offenses/suspicious circumstances noted. This was particularly high in the inexperienced police officer group. Tables and eight references are supplied. (Author abstract modified)