Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
This domain tests structured reasoning under uncertainty: problem analysis, bias awareness, risk-benefit decisions, and after-action review. Lieutenant questions often present a recurring problem and ask for the best sequence of action.
Core rules
- SARA: scan, analyze, respond, assess. Use it for repeat calls, crime patterns, and quality-of-life problems.
- Root cause: separate symptoms from causes; use data, interviews, and site visits. A spike in burglaries may reflect lighting, vacant units, or a repeat offender-not just “more patrol.”
- Bias checks: anchoring, confirmation bias, availability, and groupthink distort decisions. Seek disconfirming evidence and invite dissent.
- Risk-benefit: weigh likelihood, severity, reversibility, and public trust; document the rationale.
- After-action review: what was supposed to happen, what happened, why, and what changes.
Worked example
A business district reports repeated late-night burglaries. The lieutenant scans calls and finds they cluster behind an alley with broken lighting and no cameras. Analysis shows most occur between 2 and 4 a.m. The response includes lighting repair, directed patrol, business owner meetings, and a bait operation. Assessment compares burglary counts, calls, and arrests over 60 days; the lieutenant adjusts the plan if displacement occurs.
Traps
Jumping to a solution before defining the problem; relying on the first data source; treating a single success as proof; and skipping assessment, so the agency cannot show whether the response worked.