| Municipal police officers perform cognitive activities, such as decision making, judgment and problem solving, while facing real world constraints that include large, socially distributed problem spaces with potential for high risk outcomes. As such, the goal of this dissertation is to improve cognitive effectiveness in the policing domain by integrating Cognitive Systems Engineering methodologies to achieve three objectives: (1) Developing an understanding of the police domain and its constraints on the cognitive activities of officers, (2) Analyzing sources of complexity and needs in the cognitive activities of officers, and (3) Exploring technology interventions to reduce officer task complexity and accommodate domain constraints.;The results include eight findings with implications for cognitive system design. The findings suggest it is possible to improve the use of technology to enhance cognitive effectiveness, and that there are strengths in combining methodologies to explore the feasibility of cognitive interventions. |
