The Need for Situational Awareness Assessment Tools to Improve Police Decision-Making Competence

The Need for Situational Awareness Assessment Tools to Improve Police Decision-Making Competence

  For many occupations the use of instruments of one sort or another are used almost routinely to assess the level of competence of professionals in decision-making, relative to their occupation. Aircraft pilots, doctors, engineers and the like are no strangers to such testing. Members of police departments, nevertheless, have little exposure to such forms of assessment, even though they are required from time to time to make critical decisions regarding public safety. At the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT), part of the Criminal Justice Center, Sam Houston State University, a piece of research has commenced to assess police officers’ levels of situational awareness, with the ultimate intention of designing training that enhances decision-making competence.