A Police Officer’s Tacit Knowledge Inventory (POTKI): establishing construct validity and exploring applications

Abstract

Research summarizes the construction of a Police Officer's Tacit Knowledge Inventory (Inventory), a situational judgment test comprised of knowledge gained on-the-job by experienced police officers, and examines if it can play a role in the development of expertise. Correlation and regression analysis was done to establish the Inventory's ability to predict post-Academy graduation performance. Results show that Inventory response patterns correlate with Supervisor ratings; and the Inventory responses correctly predict significant differences between novice patrol officers and experienced police officers.

The Police Officer Tacit Knowledge Inventory (POTKI): Towards Determining Underlying Structure and Applicability as a Recruit Screening Tool

“…Phase I results provided evidence of the construct validity of the POTKI and showed a significant relation between the POTKI and the MOE (Taylor et al, ). Although Mahalanobis Distance ( D 2 ) scores were calculated for the Phase I POTKI response options, these results were not reported initially in Taylor et al (), but will be discussed within the results of Phase II. The D 2 scores were calculated based on the combined novice and expert officer responses.…”

“…In Phase I (2009–2011), the POTKI was administered to police officers who were attending the Peace Officer Standards and Training Academy. The purpose of that research was to create the POTKI and validate its use (Taylor et al, ). In Phase II (2013–2015), the focus of the research was to investigate the relation between the POTKI and MOE among applicants in four city police departments in a western US state.…”

“…This paper presents findings from the continuation of a two‐phased study that began in 2009, which examined the role tacit knowledge plays in the problem‐solving ability of novice patrol officers, and how that relates to the development of professional expertise (Chi, Glaser, & Farr, ; Ericsson, ; Van der Heijden, ). During the first phase, the police officer tacit knowledge inventory (POTKI) was created and validated to determine if there was a predictive relation between the pattern of an officer's responses on the inventory (administered while they were going through the Peace Officer Standards and Training Academy), and how their direct supervisors subsequently rated them (Taylor et al, ). In the second phase, the inventory was administered to individuals applying to be patrol officers, and the pattern of their responses on the inventory and its relation with subsequent performance was further explored.…”

“…The respondent is then asked to rate the quality of each response option as appropriate, effective, or ineffective in solving the problem presented in the specific scenario (Legree, Psotka, Tremble, & Bourne, ). Frequently termed tacit knowledge inventories, for example, Tacit Knowledge Inventory for Military Leaders (Hedlund et al, ) and POTKI (Taylor et al, ), these measures have been found to be the single best predictor of job performance (Hedlund, Wilt, Nebel, Ashford, & Sternberg, ; Koczwara et al, ; Sternberg & Hedlund, ) and to be particularly effective at measuring behaviors associated with teamwork, leadership, and interpersonal skills (Christian, Edwards, & Bradley, ). Previous scholarly research has shown that SJT‐based tacit knowledge inventories provide a reliable and valid assessment of practical intelligence (Cianciolo et al, ).…”

Towards a model for the integration of knowledge management in law enforcement agencies

“…Although technological knowledge systems are one aspect of this, they cannot exist effectively in isolation and instead must rely upon the values of knowledge management being adopted throughout the organisations culture, training practices and structure. As the operation and training of law enforcement officers evolves from traditional regimented, almost militaristic approach to a more problem oriented one, as does the requirement for knowledge management systems that better capture tacit, experience-based knowledge (Taylor et al, 2013).…”