NCJ Number
219674
Journal
Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Dated: 2007 Pages: 310-323
Date Published
2007
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study explored the dimensions through which police officers in Scotland discriminated and categorized operational situations.
Abstract
Results from the first study indicated that two main dimensions were used by Scotland police officers when discriminating between situations: (1) familiarity, and (2) risk to self. Findings from the second study revealed that most officers made decisions about a situation in less than 3 minutes. The situations requiring the fastest decisions were also perceived to be of higher risk and were rated as more unfamiliar. Other findings indicated that officers rated 50 percent of the situations as unfamiliar while 60 percent were judged to be dangerous or very dangerous. The findings suggest that the police officers’ time and risk judgments are related. The research involved two studies. In the first study, 23 police officers from 1 Scottish police force were asked to categorize a set of 19 typical police operational situations and analyze them using a multidimensional scale. In the second study, 112 police officers were asked to rate 20 situations in terms of the amount of time to make a decision, risk to self, risk to others, familiarity, and stress level. Future research on police officer decisionmaking could focus on the effects of time pressure on cue selection. Data were analyzed using descriptive and correctional statistics. Tables, references, appendixes