← Back to Vol. 04 Issue No. 02 — March
Abstract
Psychological testing of police officers should occur from beginning to end, from the point of being hired to the end of the officer’s career. Thus, the testing aids to better serve both police officers and the general public. In fact, wherever there is a crime committed, you will almost always find that the first responder is a police officer. The volatile nature of the day to day calls constantly places undue stress on police officers, a direct result of their constant and extremely high state of readiness. Consequently, law enforcement officers never know what to expect once they respond to a call. No matter the countless number of hours on the job, officers must be prepared for the unexpected; there is no such thing as a routine call in law enforcement. It is widely known and accepted that officers make life or death decisions at a moment’s notice. More importantly, police officers are required to apply law, administered medical assistance, and diagnose individuals that may pose a danger to others. Taken together, the latter must be done without violating someone’s civil rights. Furthermore, at least some understanding of all these elements needs to be present in a new recruit police officer. Officers need to possess a certain mental make-up in order to become an effective law enforcement officer. The psychological profile has to be one that is aimed at the constitution required of police officers. However, teaching this content may be challenging due to the multiple conceptual ideas outlined. Therefore, this presentation is aimed at employing a new way of knowledge attainment called the “Do First” methodology. The “Do-First” approach teaches the student to use five foundational principles of knowledge acquisition, which helps the student achieve the course learning outcomes. The five steps include (a) tell; (b) show; (c) do; (e) review; and (f) ask.