What causes adverse policing outcomes, such as excessive uses of force and unnecessary arrests? Prevailing explanations focus on problematic officers or deficient regulations and oversight. Here, we introduce a new, overlooked perspective. We suggest that the cognitive demands inherent in policing can undermine officer decision-making. Unless officers are prepared for these demands, they may jump to conclusions too quickly without fully considering alternative ways of seeing a situation. This can lead to adverse policing outcomes. To test this perspective, we created a new training that teaches officers to consider different ways of interpreting the situations they encounter. We evaluated this training using a randomized controlled trial with 2,070 officers from the Chicago Police Department. In a series of lab assessments, we find that treated officers were significantly more likely to consider a wider range of evidence and develop more explanations for subjects’ actions. Critically, we also find that training affected officer performance in the field, leading to reductions in uses of force, discretionary arrests, and arrests of Black civilians. Meanwhile, officer activity levels remained unchanged, and trained officers were less likely to be injured on duty. Our results highlight the value of considering the cognitive aspects of policing and demonstrate the power of using behaviorally informed approaches to improve officer decision-making and policing outcomes.

中文翻译：

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警务的认知观点


是什么导致了不利的警务结果，例如过度使用武力和不必要的逮捕？流行的解释集中在有问题的警官或有缺陷的法规和监督上。在这里，我们引入了一个新的、被忽视的视角。我们认为，警务工作中固有的认知需求可能会破坏警官的决策。除非警官为这些要求做好准备，否则他们可能会在没有充分考虑其他看待情况的方式的情况下，过早地下结论。这可能会导致不利的警务结果。为了测试这一观点，我们创建了一项新的培训，教警官考虑以不同的方式解释他们遇到的情况。我们使用一项对芝加哥警察局 2,070 名警官的随机对照试验来评估这项培训。在一系列实验室评估中，我们发现接受治疗的警官明显更有可能考虑更广泛的证据并为受试者的行为做出更多解释。至关重要的是，我们还发现，培训影响了警官在现场的表现，导致武力使用、酌情逮捕和黑人平民逮捕的减少。与此同时，警官的活动水平保持不变，训练有素的警官在执勤时受伤的可能性较小。我们的结果突出了考虑警务认知方面的价值，并展示了使用行为知情方法来改善警官决策和警务结果的力量。