| Police officers and their respective counterparts have been inherently forced to make life-and-death decisions. Those decisions have not gone without scrutiny from the courts, the media, and members of the general population, but the net effect of the analyses after deadly force encounters has, at times, left more questions unanswered than the respective investigations sought to discover. Livelihoods have been endangered while investigations were conducted, once respected law enforcement officers have been convicted and sentenced for wrongful death or worse, and families have had to bury loved ones. Of importance to the research is what, if any, underlying cognitive functioning exists within police officers that facilitate the decision-making process. Similarly, are observed differences in the decision-making process different between police officers and the majority of the general population? Simply stated, is the cognitive functioning and subsequent decision-making different in police officers than in civilians?... |
