When you are applying for a job in law enforcement, you will be faced with Situational Judgment questions, either on the written exam or during the interview. The questions will ask you to view a scenario and then rate certain responses from very ineffective to very effective over a 5 or 7-point scale. It is not easy for the unprepared test taker to choose the correct answer from 5 to 7 choices.
There are seven measures of ATTITUDE that are critical to master in order to do well on these Situational Judgment Tests.
Decision Making Skills
Communications Skills
Use of Power and Authority
Integrity and Professionalism
Sensitivity to the Team
Openness & Flexibility
Service Orientation
These inclinations are easy to list, but sometimes difficult to put into practice. In this article, I will discuss examples of good and bad Decision Making Skills.
Decision Making and Action - Examples
How do you react to situations? Many people choose to ignore situations and do nothing. In law enforcement, that is seldom a good choice.
The first step in good decision making is acknowledgment. Let your supervisor, citizens on the street and your partners know that you are aware that action is needed.
In most of my courses, you are instructed to memorize the the hierarchy of responses needed by law enforcement officers. Here is that prioritized list:
Protection of human life, including yours.
Respect your chain of command.
Maintaining order.
Enforcing Laws.
Assisting People in Non-emergency Situations.
Maintaining Order in your Area of Responsibility.
Maintaining Good Public Relations.
Therefore, if your boss tells you to stand watch over a store, and you see someone being assaulted, you should have no hesitation to ignore your bosses order and help the victim. Less obvious examples include how you respond to potentially dangerous situations, as simple as a road sign that has fallen into the street. Do you move it or ignore it?
Other situations might include, “How do you respond to teamwork situations?” For example, a team member calls in sick and your boss needs assistance covering for their absence. What should you do? Simple communications is a form of taking action.
Another example you will run into on police exams may involve how do you respond to gentle suggestions from your supervisor that certain skills need to be improved, perhaps by taking night classes? What should you do? To ignore such input would be unwise.
For all of these situations, you need to take some action.
Learn How to Ace the Situational Judgment Test
Sgt. Godoy’s Prep Course for Mastering Situational Judgment Tests
Notice that evaluating a response using only one criteria, like Decision Making, is not enough to answer Situational Judgment questions with 5 to 7 choices.
Most of my Police Test Prep courses include a video tutorial on how to ace the Situational Judgment Test. Alternatively, you can purchase this lesson on an à la carte basis by clicking on this image.