Human Factors Discourse on Law Enforcement Psychobehaviors: Ethology to High Velocity Human Factors

8/14/2019 Human Factors Discourse on Law Enforcement Psychobehaviors: Ethology to High Velocity Human Factors

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A Discourse on Law EnforcementPsychobehaviors

INFORMING DESIGN FROM DISPLAYS INETHOLOGY TO HIGH VELOCITY HUMAN FACTORS

MOIN RAHMAN

Design Integration-Human Factors(Contact: [email protected])


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Cover Art

High Velocity Human FactorsFirst Quadrant (top right corner): High speed police pursuit ~ 80 mphFourth Quad (bottom right): Cat shot (catapulting) of an F/A-18 Hornet off a naval carrier; accelerating

from 0 to 180 mph in 3 sec.

Displays from EthologySecond Quad (top left): Signature display strutting police officers on foot patrol neutralizing potential

law breakers through their presence.Third Quad (bottom left): Signature & challenge display strutting lizards issuing warning to intruders


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A Discourse on Law Enforcement

Psychobehaviors


(Design Human Factors-Knowledge Field Manual-1)

MOIN RAHMAN


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This discourse is dedicated to the memory of Col. John Boyd (a.k.a., GenghisJohn) who not only worked at high velocities when flying [F-86] combat missionsat Mach speeds over the skies of Korea, but also informed and inspired my ownthinking and that of the US Air Force and the Marine Corps with his writings onhuman performance in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous domains andterrains.


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CONTENTSForeword ........................................................................................................................................ ixPreface............................................................................................................................................ xi1.0 Preamble ............................................................................................................................. 12.0 Prologue .............................................................................................................................. 3

2.1 Signature Displays .......................................................................................................... 52.2 Challenge Displays ......................................................................................................... 52.2.1 Cultural Aspects: Social, Physical and Visual........................................................ 72.2.2 Fight or Flight? ....................................................................................................... 8

2.3 Appeasement Displays.................................................................................................... 92.4 Bonding Displays............................................................................................................ 9

3.0 Dialogue............................................................................................................................ 113.1 Performance Factors: calm, alert, vigilant, restrained or aroused?............................... 113.2 Psychological Processes................................................................................................ 12

3.2.1 Sensory-Perceptual Systems ................................................................................. 123.2.2 Attention ............................................................................................................... 13

3.2.3 Decision and Action.............................................................................................. 153.2.4 X-treme Arousal.................................................................................................... 164.0 Thought-log: Theory to Practice....................................................................................... 21

4.1 The Language of Design............................................................................................... 214.2 Sensory-Perceptuals ...................................................................................................... 22

4.2.1 Tunneling .............................................................................................................. 224.2.2 Design Deliberations on Sensory-Perceptuals ...................................................... 224.2.3 Reflexive Reactions .............................................................................................. 25

4.3 Orientation Solutions .................................................................................................... 264.3.1 Time ...................................................................................................................... 274.3.2 Pattern Recognition............................................................................................... 27

4.3.3 Mission Space Awareness (MSA) ........................................................................ 294.4 Decision-Making........................................................................................................... 324.4.1 The Laws of High Velocity Human Factors (HVHF) .......................................... 34

4.5 Action............................................................................................................................ 404.6 OODA: Summarized..................................................................................................... 42

5.0 Epilogue ............................................................................................................................ 436.0 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 45


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ForewordBy Mark Palmer

Good product design and development can happen through luck, intelligence, or any mix of thetwo. The more intelligence and insight a team has about the way customers live, work and playthe less they risk being wrong, or erroneous, in their design decisions.

Moin Rahman has done a deep dive into diverse sources of information about humans, ingeneral, and police and military in specific; to gain insights into why people behave they waythey do, and propose a process and criterion to create products that enhance users experiencewithout blocking their motivations. He has drawn insights from such diverse areas as AnimalEthology, Cognitive and Biological Sciences, Military Psychology, and Human Factors, amongothers.

Behavioral insights are not enough to inform the design process. It takes interpretation of thoseinsights to make a real and meaningful difference. Moin has proposed a process of how these,and future insights, should be translated to affect new designs. For example, by looking atreptilian social behaviors he postulates a design language for Police, as implausible as it sounds;its quite compelling in its reason.

The field of Human Factors Psychology has focused attention on creating systems that couldadapt to various types of users. However, little attention has been given to systems that couldadapt to changing capabilities of a single user affected by different environmental stressors. Highstress dramatically affects how a person processes information. Moin looks at those

environmental stressors and the resulting changes in capabilities and proposes design criteria foraddressing them. He calls his approachHigh Velocity Human Factors (HVHF) and hasproposed seven laws. This approach will serve as a fruitful source of new ideas and as a goodfilter to access any new concepts for police and others users in high velocity situations.

This body of work represents a beginning, not an ending. Its an approach to productdevelopment that will inspire ideas that really do make a difference to users, and at the same timeshould reduce risk of creating products that either do not fit with our customers work processes,or even worse, interfere with their goals and motivations.

Moins unique approach to understanding users will ensure a long and prosperous relationship

with Motorola customers by creating a product development roadmap with a real destination.


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Preface

The social historian and futurist Alvin Toffler observed that innovation is the outcome ofnonaverage thinking arising undernonequilibrium conditions. Design Integration (DI), the

group that Im part of, has a rich vein of innovation because its people exhibit nonaveragethinking very much in the Tofflerian tradition. The nonaverage thinking of my fellow travelers(DI mates) is triggered because they never take satisfaction in people, things or a world, whichfalsely concludes that it is in equilibrium. For the DI-ites, there is always room to improve andnew castles to be dreamt off.

The people of DI, particularly its designers, are in a relentless quest for fresh insights andpractice nonlinear thinking in search of the next paradigm shift. Thus the HF specialist in team-DI like myself -- is constantly provoked, probed and prodded by the designers to provide newknowledge and scientific precepts on human behavior that fuel innovation, from the edge of thepossible. This poses both a challenge and an invitation to the human factors specialist in team-

DI.

This discourse is the end result of my acceptance to this invitation and being willing to make agame of such a challenge. But as always a visionary is required to articulate the needs of DI inthe language of the sciences and describe the nucleus and frontiers of the problem on hand. Thisvisionary is none other than Mark Palmer (Senior Manager, Human Factors) who is really aheadof our times because he knows, in Ralph Waldo Emersons words A foolish consistency is thehobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. Simply put,it is not enough to be contended with smidgens of innovation that may occur as accidental andincidental byproducts of routine work but it is necessary to audaciously step out of the routineand invest in people, time and unconventional thinking to unearth new vistas of innovation

where none existed before. And Mark, a maverick leader, revels in doing just that.

Time and again, Mark has always succeeded in jolting me into action much like the F/A-18Hornet that is catapulted off a navy carriers deck because of the exciting problems he lobs atme. They so seduce my intellect that they consume me lock, stock and barrel: I find myselfresearching and reflecting the issues nonstop and reconnoitering for knowledge in almost everyknown science to man. Gracias Mark!

If there is a paragon of technology who has not fallen afoul to its paradoxes, it is my colleague,Tim Bergin. I have immensely benefited from his challenges, critiques and comments throughoutthis research. I learnt a great deal from him on the limitations of technology and the

limitlessness of human ingenuity. Tim was a willing sparring partner who shaped my thinking inthe course of discussing a gamut of technologies over many hours: police car cockpits;sidewinder air-intercept-missiles; fly-by-wire technologies of the F-16 (fighting Falcon); and thevirtues & vicissitudes of [human & machine] speed, stealth and surprise as practiced by SWATteams, the B-2 bomber, and maneuver warfare. IOU Tim!


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My ideas usually emerge as a dense thundercloud. When I express them on paper they canbecome both garrulous and garbled. This work would not have got its clarity of purpose withoutthe superb editing of Narcy Ascuntar. Many thanks Narcy for your skilful pruning of this work.

Finally thanks to Shantel de Mare for helping me articulate my ideas particularly, the graphic

pertaining to the OODA loop (high velocity cycles) through the visual-graphic medium.

The intent of this discourse was never to provide checklists, formulas or recipes i.e., clichergonomic & pre-engineered solutions on a piecemeal basis (e.g., make the knobs bigger butkeep the footprint smaller) but to encourage and engage in creativity at the level of creatingthe next paradigm shift. And creativity itself, as one knows, involves cross disciplinary thinkingwhere the framework of one field might be used to think afresh of another. Thus the readershould not be surprised if analogies from the ethology of lizards to jet fighters taking-off fromnaval carriers are used to illustrate broad concepts and to feed the mind that doesnt wish to beensnared by the tedium offered by a world in equilibrium.

Moin RahmanJanuary 2007

(contact: [email protected])


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A Discourse on Law EnforcementPsychobehaviors


(Design Human Factors-Knowledge Field Manual-1)


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1.0 Preamble

The purpose of technology is to equip the man. We must not fall prey to the mistaken notion

technology can reduce warfare to simply manning the equipment.- Joint Chiefs of Staff [1]

MissionTo build a human factors platform by specifically addressing human behaviors, predilections andperformance, in the context of law enforcement. With a focus on those instances when thehuman agent has to perform in an environment where the stakes are high, physical danger isimminent, and the future is unpredictable and the information is incomplete (a.k.a., fog andfriction).

Intent

Utilize the human factors platform to stimulate strategic design thinking towards solutions thatwould best aid and abet the human agent in accomplishing his mission in the field.

This human factors platform takes its sustenance from psychobehavioral theories and practiceconcerning human behavior, particularly when operating under stressors induced by volatileand ambiguous factors beyond ones control that are experienced during law enforcementactivities. This discourse paints the psychobehavioral portrait as it may apply to the lawenforcement officer in four parts:

a. Prologue: Ethological antecedents: territoriality, patrol behaviors and law enforcementb. Dialogue: Discussion on psychobehaviors and their design implications

c. Thought-log: Spurring creative design through cross disciplinary and non-linear thinkingd. Epilogue: When psychobehaviors inform design design will have no cul de sac.


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2.0 Prologue

[the] fundamental duty of the police is to protect human life and that officers are only justified

taking a life as a last resort.- Joseph D. McNamara NYPD deputy inspector (ret.) and former police chief of Kansas City,

Mo., and San Jose, CA. [2]

Police cars dont enforce the law nor do police radios. The police officer exercises his physical,

moral and social authority, in conjunction with tactical and technical superiority to uphold and

enforce the law. The police car, the radio and other technologies are merely proximal tools,

which become essential or critical depending on the officers needs of the moment. And these

proximal tools by their appearance, [inter]actions, and dispositions aid the police officer in

attaining and upholding his physical, moral and social authority.

- Author

The philosopher Thomas Hobbes pointed out that the primary bond which holds society togetheris the promise of security [33]. In a democratic setting, an individual makes a social contractwith the sovereign to abide by the generally agreed upon laws and by default expects thateverybody else, including the power wielding elected representatives and their instruments, to dothe same. Thus society as a whole becomes dependent on the government to uphold and enforcethe law. In this context law enforcement responsibilities are farmed out to a third party such asthe police department and the judicial system.

The law enforcement agency is charged and challenged with the role of playing a morallyresponsible, authoritative and impartial role when discharging its responsibilities. A successful

law enforcement agency takes it upon itself to conduct itself in a manner, which wins the respectand cooperation from society at large and to obtain the desired resources from the government.The latter is facilitated by a society (tax payers) that feels justified in investing in the lawenforcement agencies. Understandings of the sociopolitical underpinnings of law enforcementare essential before one embarks on designing systems and solutions for the officer or theorganization enforcing the law.

Law enforcement is a complex human endeavor as its goals are manifold and requires that theofficer acquire and exercise a gamut of skills1 in multiple settings (listed below) to accomplishthem. For starters, the modern police officer is mission saturated,2 which, in turn, places heavydemands both on his body and mind. The manifold [typical] goals inherent to the law

enforcement domain (some examples) are listed below:1. Exert control to dissuade and quell chaos (equilibrium over entropy, order rather thandisorder)

a. Crowd management, civil order & riot control

1 Legal framework, mastering technology (radio, car, computer, radar gun, etc.) and exercising technical superiority,inter-personal skills (handling friendly and adversarial elements), among others.2 Encumbered with a number of responsibilities resulting in mission saturation from field work (e.g.,apprehending law breakers) to paper work (e.g., writing accident reports, issuing parking tickets, etc.).


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b. Incapacitate hostage takers and free hostagesc. Adherence to traffic laws

2. Eliminate hazards, provide aid and assist in recoverya. Clear traffic lanes and mitigate hazards due to disabled vehiclesb. Traffic management and mitigating related impediments (non-working traffic

lights, road blocks due to debris, etc.)c. Provide medical aid to injured citizens, rescue trapped citizens, etc.3. Maintenance of order

a. Homeostasis3 in civil order: living with the acceptable norms a society setsthrough its legal and cultural framework

b. Discouraging crime through presence patrolc. Apprehending law breakers and delivering justice by partnering with the legal

systems which, in turn, discourages repeat crimes.

To expand on #1 (exert control to dissuade and quell chaos), the officer has the extra burden ofsubjugating the target [breaking the law] with the use of little or no force. Use of force is usually

and not necessarily the best resort in law enforcement doctrine and practice. Furthermore, apolice officers every action or inaction is under constant scrutiny by legal, civil, social, andpolitical, including criminal, elements in society. In other words, they function in the court ofpublic opinion at all times. Unlike warfare, law enforcement, restricts an officers actions andencumbers that the officer be constantly cognizant of what he does and doesnt do. Forexample, in the heat of action exchanging fire with a fugitive a police officer shouldremember the police rules, which mandates that an officer pause after firing three rounds toassess the situation. This example illustrates the cognitive demands remember and recalldespite extraneous stressors placed on the officer due to doctrine and legal requirements.

The law enforcement officer seeks to prevail in the field, first and foremost, with the strength ofhis will that is, by exercising a superior [both perceived and real] physical, psychological,moral, social and technological authority over his adversary. This also means that a democraticsociety as opposed to a police state hires and accepts the law enforcement officer as anincorruptible authority who will uphold the law and protect life, limb and property.

The above has been described to make the reader better understand the political, social and moralunderpinnings of law enforcement before one proceeds to the anthropological and human factorssubstrates of law enforcement.

To best understand the goals, beliefs, intents and behaviors of a modern police officer one shouldbegin with the antecedents of all behavior: they are the prosematic4 behaviors [3,4] exhibited byall complex organisms, including humans. The four prosematic behaviors listed below appear toprovide the foundation of almost all human-human [officer-citizen] interactions that might occurwhen an officer is on his or her beat.

3 The term homeostasis, borrowed from physiology, is used as a metaphor to imply that values of critical variablescant fluctuate beyond a safe range. That means body temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate, PH value, etc., needto fall within certain ranges to sustain life.4 Prosematic behaviors are nothing but rudimentary behaviors that provide a master routine for an organisms daily

behavior in its ecology [3,4].


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1) Signature Displays (self assertion)2) Challenge (territorial) displays3) Appeasement (submissive) displays4) Bonding (camaraderie) displays

A brief discussions of the prosematic behaviors are being listed in order to understand theanthropological underpinnings of police work. This will help us clarify the underlyingmotivations that may energize and drive the officer to accomplish his job successfully.

As an aside, it should be noted that these prosematic behaviors are largely governed by theprimitive structures of the brain (R-complex or the reptilian cortex) as opposed to the moresophisticated neo cortex which largely provides the cognitive horse power for complexinteractions. Simply put the R-complex drives behaviors that are automatic, effortless and rapid.The neo cortex drives behaviors that require deliberate and conscious effort, which is usually thecase when interacting with technologies or higher order problem solving. One needs toacknowledge this gulf to appreciate the two levels or brain layers at which the police officers

are likely to operate when they perform tasks ranging from shoot-outs (e.g., lower level reptilianreactions to sustain self preservation) to issuing parking violation tickets (higher level neo-mammalian actions to drive human-system interactions).

2.1 Signature Displays

Signature displays are assertion displays, which convey that Im the boss.As a law enforcement professional the officers demeanor is that of an authority figure. Thesense of authority can be conveyed through multiple channels. One among them is visualauthority: power emanating from ones physique (exaggeration of body size through uniform andgear), polished and primed equipment, and authoritative body language, among others. The other

main channel is verbal authority: prosody and tonal quality of voice, choice of words, a powerfulsounding and crackling radio, etc.

2.2 Challenge Displays

Challenge displays are territorial in nature, which serve to keep intruders out, by issuing achallenge in the form of take-notice of me. This would be the core action-related display withregard to a police officer when enforcing the law (e.g., firing a weapon in the air, use of teargasand other psych-ops methods). The passive version of the challenge display takes on the form ofa presence patrol (a.k.a., boots or wheels on the ground) to send a clear message to lawbreakers and to foster a sense of security among citizens. The objective of the challenge display

is to force the intruder or violator to retire and recede.

Signature and challenge displays are seen among almost all complex organisms. The examplebelow borrowed from the animal kingdom provides some interesting insights on principles suchas amplification and exaggeration that will be discussed in the final section. See Figures 1a & b.


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Figure 1a: Signature and challenge displays of a distant relativea. The signature display consists only of dynamic components a single pushup produced

by flexion of the forelimbs (a), followed by two head bobs. The signature display may

also be referred to as an assertive display.b. The challenge display includes both dynamic and static modifiers. In addition to an initialpushup (a), followed by several head bobs (b), there are two conspicuous static modifiers extension of the gular fold (c) and sagitall expansion (d), produced by a side-to-sidenarrowing of the body.

Figure 1b: Signature & challenge displays: law enforcement officersa. The organic signature display consists of a sufficiently tensed musculature (e.g., chest-

up) resulting in assertive posture and vigilant facial expression. The inorganic signaturedisplays include a sharp & snappy uniform (contrast this with the civilians in thebackground) and law-enforcement related equipment (on the belt), cap\beret, andinsignia.

b. Challenge display would be the gait and authoritative pacing. Prominent display of theweapon (e.g., baton). Sound of shoes hitting the pavement (sound of footsteps).

Overall, the police officer amplifies his power and authority through both organic and inorganicmeans.


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2.2.1 Cultural Aspects: Social, Physical and Visual

Society has a stereotypical view of the law enforcement domain as masculine and couples it with

competence. Men [male officers] in particular display a sense of invulnerability and bravado indangerous work environments. Robin Ely [5], who researches gender issues in high reliabilityorganizations (military, police. offshore oil platforms, among others) describes the expression ofmale identity in a high risk setting as follows:

Men went to great efforts to appear invulnerable in three realmsphysical, technical, andemotionalin order to prove their merit as workers and as men. Men demonstrated their

physical invulnerability by displaying bravado, including a disregard for physical safety, inthe presence of physical danger. In the technical realm, they upheld an image ofinvulnerability by putting on a guise of being technically infallible, which meant refusingto admit to or reveal evidence of failures, mistakes, or lack of knowledge. In the emotionalrealm, presenting oneself as emotionally detached, unshakable, and fearless was crucial fordemonstrating both masculinity and competence.

The above exposition of the masculine mindset and the social reactions of the male officer tothe societal expectations play an important role with regard to his beliefs, motivations andpractice [of his vocations]. Design of systems and products for law enforcement should thusabsorb and reflect this mindset in its language. Design in this context becomes part social art andpart Imagineering. Whereby the visual vocabulary of design and the performancecharacteristics of its technology should capture key terms such as invulnerable, bravado,infallible, and last but not least masculine.5

Cultures prefer that the ideal man or women for occupations such as law enforcement or themilitary should have a mesomorphic (muscular) body type as opposed to ectomorphic (lean) or

endomorphic (plump) body types. To this end, the police culture prefers recruitment and[continuous] physical training that results in active duty police officers sporting a hardmusculature, upright posture and good fitness (packaging of the police officer). Theseattributes besides being useful for on the job physical activities, also serve a useful function inthat they intrinsically promote through low information signaling channels the exhibition ofsignature and challenge displays.

5 No gender bias is implied by the author here.


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Mesomorph body type Ectomorph body type Endomorph body type

Figure 3: The mesomorph body with its inherent attributes of strength and vigor promotes the

exhibition of signature and challenge displays. The visual language of products designed for thelaw enforcement environment should be in harmony with the visual language of the mesomorphbody. This form of low information signaling, via the design language, can aid the exhibition ofsignature and challenge displays (to be discussed later).

2.2.2 Fight or Flight?

When faced with danger an organism is prepared through a series of [automated] physiologicaland psychological processes to fight or flee. The challenges posed to the law enforcement officerare somewhat aligned with the classic fight-or-flight paradigm. But more importantly it shouldbe noted that a law enforcement officer in most cases refrains from inflicting violence at the first

opportunity and utilizes posturing to psychologically intimidate the target with the intent ofeventual subjugation (see Fig. 4). Simply put the emotion of fear is evoked in the targetperson or population to trigger a sensible process of deterrence (Watson, 1978) among them.


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sacrifice which is a typical form of altruism seen among many species. This bonding is bestsummarized by the following quote:They went to war because their country ordered them to. But in the end they fought not for their

country or their flag, they fought for each other. - Lt. Col. Hal Moore in We were soldiers onceand young, which describes the Ia Drang

campaign (1965), the first major conflict of the Vietnam War [7].


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3.0 Dialogue

The earlier section discussed deeply rooted psychosocial behaviors that have been hardwired in

every human and were discussed in the light of law enforcement. This section, the dialog, willbuild upon the prologue and create a bridge to the nature and design of solutions that might serveboth as an ally and utility to the officer in the field.

3.1 Performance Factors: calm, alert, vigilant, restrained oraroused?

The psychological state of members undertaking a law enforcement mission, for better or worseis akin to a hunt. After all, the objective here is to spot the violator [signal] among the sea of lawabiding citizens [noise], and take the appropriate remedial action (e.g., issue a speeding ticket orarrest a suspect). To successfully accomplish this, police officers are trained and conditioned toexercise a sense of calm, alertness, vigilance and restraint. But high risk events (car chases,shoot-outs, etc.) put the officer in a state of high arousal that is both automatic and instinctual.

This psychobehavioral portrait expressly addresses issues pertaining to human performance inhighly aroused states (a.k.a., high velocity human factors to be discussed in a later section) andprovides pointers on how these may be accommodated by optimizing system and technologysolutions. The focus here is not so much on general engineering psychology because they arealready being transmuted to good [product] design at the applied level through good usabilityengineering practices.

The important difference between neurophysiological states high arousal states (emotional) vs.low arousal states (calm, alert, etc.) is the fact that the former causes a significant disturbancein the homeostasis6 of the organism. The resulting change in homeostasis, induced by changes inheart rate, respiration rate, galvanic skin response, hormonal outputs, can dramatically changethe capacities and capabilities of humans. On this account, one may argue that traditionalproduct design designed for, and [usability] tested in calm and alert states) may lack therobustness to accommodate a user whose capabilities are altered due to emotional arousal.

Finally, solutions developed to accommodate humans in aroused states, are likely to providebetter compatibility, not less, for humans operating both under steady state (non-aroused) andspiked state (aroused) conditions. As the saying goes in mission critical domains: hours ofboredom are punctuated with moments of terror. Or put another way, nine-tenths of the time is

spent waiting for the remaining one-tenth to happen.

6 Homeostasis refers to the coordinated and largely automated physiological reactions required to maintain steadyinternal states in a living organism. Homeostasis describes the automatic regulation of temperature, oxygenconcentration, or pH in the body.


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3.2 Psychological Processes

This section will provide a brief tour of pertinent psychological processes that play an importantrole in sustaining a law enforcement officers performance in the field, particularly in states ofhigh arousal.

Humans in many environments, including mission critical domains, operate under the rubric ofthe OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act) loop [8,9,10], either due to formal indoctrinationor purely due to innate mechanisms that drive them in that direction. The OODA is a mechanismthat is instinctually applied in service of tactical decision making in dynamic and constantlyevolving situations. The OODA loop is briefly explained below:

- Observation: the collection of data by means of the senses- Orientation: the analysis and synthesis of data to form a mental perspective- Decision: the determination of a course of action based on current mental perspective

hypothesizing the best course of action based on past experiences, current events andanticipation of the future

- Action: the implementing & physical playing-out of decisions

Figure 5: OODA Loop

Orientation (a.k.a., Orienting Response in psychological jargon), the most important element inthe OODA loop, is worthy of further explanation: Orientation has to do with the interpretation ofa situation based on our experience, culture, and heritage.. It shapes our decisions, actions andobservations, and, in turn, is shaped by the information and feedback entering into theobservation window.

The next few sections provide psychological briefs inline with the OODA architecture forhumans operating in mission critical domains.

3.2.1 Sensory-Perceptual Systems

Sensory-perceptual systems serve as the sensors to accomplish the Observe element of theOODA loop. It is wrong to assume that they are purely visual in nature. They, in fact,encompass all sensory systems (visual, auditory, tactual, olfactory, kinesthetic and gustatory).


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Humans are able to simultaneously and preattentively monitor a large number of perceptualchannels to locate potentially threatening events or of emotional significance. This process isautomatic and may even operate outside of awareness.

The preattentive processes (hardwired in the brain) are specifically tuned to seek stimuli with

affective valence (stronger for aversive stimuli such as guns, victim in a pool of blood, etc.) asthey involve issues relating to survival and sustenance of the individual. To this end, aversivestimuli have the power to take partial to total control of perceptual processing mechanism (a.k.a.,sensory tunneling). In turn, this may result in corresponding decrements of other ongoingcognitive and motor activities (e.g., driving, speech, etc.). Research [11,12,13] has shown thatthe sensory tunneling reduces the range of cue utilization (e.g., diminished peripheral vision orchange in [sensation] thresholds and resolution of sensory systems in general) and may evenreprioritize the activities that need to be carried out. The latter is best captured by the adage adog in a hunt doesnt stop to scratch its fleas.

The sensory tunneling, during highly aroused states, occurs for the good of the individual e.g.,

accomplish a goal, such as capturing a fugitive or ensuring safety in a high speed chase. Onecould even dare say that any technology that is not contextual and non-supportive of current goal the current goal being the event or stimuli causing the aroused state is a distracter and in alllikelihood will anyway be shut-out by the human operator. (Design solutions will be discussed toaddress this issue and will be presented in Section 4.0.)

3.2.2 Attention

First a clarification, attention should never be assumed to be a limitation to vision. Itencompasses all the senses. For instance, inattention in the auditory modality may result in a lowdecibel enunciator being missed. That is, unattendedstimuli often go unnoticed even when

passing or impinging on ones senses (ears, eyes, etc.).

Highly arousing events (e.g., street fight) and\or stimuli (e.g., road accident) have the power tograb a subjects attention involuntarily from an ongoing activity. This phenomenon, referred toas cognitive rubber necking results in in-attentional blindness with a corresponding decrementin performance in concurrent activities such as driving or monitoring a radio. In fact thedetection of threatening information can interrupt ongoing cognitive activity in ways that tunesubsequent perception, attention, judgment and even memory towards threat-related outcomes.

The general interpretation for this is that humans are endowed with a dedicated preattentivesystem, which automatically and constantly scans the perceptual stream, for stimuli with

emotional significance (particularly threat stimuli). This is also true when people encounterunusual or highly informative objects because they fixate faster, more often, and for longerdurations on them.

In practical terms, the resulting selective attention due to the attention grabbing qualities of thestimuli interfere with multi tasking as they impede or dont permit dividing of attention.


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In the law enforcement context, one may hypothesize, that the automatic perceptual scanning iscomplemented by a deliberate and conscious screening of the environment by the officer onpatrol. For example, scanning for a target with known description or trying to spot suspiciousactivity, etc.

At one level, selective attention is good in that that it focuses all attention on overcoming anadversarial situation or goal-driven activities. At another level, it is detrimental because it mayresult in the subject missing or ignoring other important cues in the environment that may berequired to develop an adequate mental model7 or situation awareness (more on this later) forsuccessful goal accomplishment. Ideally technology solutions should not interfere with thenaturally occurring selective attention as this more often than not is literally required forthe agent to survive the dangers of the moment; however, technology solutions may focus oneither demanding [harshly] or calling [with varying degrees of urgency, including queue &release8] the agents attention to current emergency task-related information or other diagnosticand relevant cues or commands that may arise in a dynamic situation.

3.2.2.1Attention as a Spotlight

Studies [14] in cross modal selective attention have shown that when a specific location isattended for a task in one sensory modality, it seems that selective attention tends to get directedto the same location in other modalities as well. In other words, if, vision (sensory modality) istracking a fleeing suspect, it is wrong to assume that the auditory sensory modality is notoccupied. In reality the attention of the auditory modality, too, tracks the fleeing suspect (e.g.,diminishing sound of footsteps) due to the result of cross modal selective attention. Furthermoremodalities may lose sensitivity to other incoming acoustic signals such as a radio call sign. Inother words, the beams of attention of all modalities (visual, auditory, etc.) even if just oneof them is serving as a primary sensor (visual in the fleeing suspect example) align together

and attention turns as a spotlight with a laser beam like focus.

Optimal direction of attention is thus crucial for the subject to successfully orient to a givensituation in support of good decision making and action. Simply put, the subjects attentionshould be drawn to cues that are most relevant to achieving the goal state and he should besuccessfully able to filter out irrelevant cues. The means to this end could either be throughtraining or with smart application of technology.

The psychobehavioral precepts (change in attention and sensory-perceptual systems) discussed inthis and the previous sections can be best appreciated with the following practical examples.They are after-action reports [15] from police officers involved in real shooting incidents:

I was bringing my gun up. Dan was still fighting with him and the only thought thatcame through my mind was Oh, dear God, dont let me hit Dan. I fired five rounds. My

7 The users mental model of a system is defined as a rich and elaborate structure, reflecting the users understandingof what the system contains how it works, and why it works that way. It can be conceived of knowledge about thesystem sufficient to permit the user to mentally try out actions before choosing to execute.8 Queue and release refers to the doctrine of holding back the presentation of information not directly relevant tocurrent task and\or has low priority when a user is experiencing high levels of stress and release it at a later timewhen such stress has diminished and the agent has regained capacities that were previously not available.


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vision changed as soon as I started to shoot. It went from seeing the whole picture to justthe suspects head. Everything else just disappeared. I didnt see Dan anymore, didnt seeanything else. All I could see was the suspects head

When he started toward us, it was almost like it was in slow motion and everything wentinto a tight focuswhen he made his move, my whole body just tensed up. I dontremember having any feeling from my chest down. Everything was focused forward towatch and react to my target. Talk about an adrenaline rush! Everything tightened up, andall my senses were directed forward at the man running at us with a gun. My vision wasfocused on his torso and the gun. I couldnt tell you what his left hand was doing. I haveno idea. I was watching the gun. The gun was coming down in front of his chest area, andthats when I did my first shots.

I didnt hear a thing, not one thing. Alan had fired one round when I shot my first pair, butI didnt hear him shoot. He shot two more rounds when I fired the second time, but I didnthear any of those rounds either

3.2.3 Decision and ActionKnowledge, speed and precision are vital ingredients for operators engaged in a highly dynamicand unpredictable domain (e.g., law enforcement, fire fighting, combat, etc.). Therefore,enabling the operator to develop the right mental perspective rapidly can help him take charge ofthe situation colorfully put flummox the adversary (when one exists) by taking appropriateaction at the most optimal intersection of time and space.

Decision and action are heavily contingent on attention and the orienting response. They aremodulated by the mental model and situation awareness [of a certain situation] developed bythe agent.

In the law enforcement context having the correct mental model and developing the propersituation are vital to goal accomplishment. Needless to say, solutions should be designed tomatch with the mental model and expectations of the user and enable him or her develop theproper situation awareness by providing the necessary data points, control options and cues.

3.2.3.1Situation Awareness

A person's situation awareness can be described as his or her state of knowledge or mental modelof the surrounding situation or the environment. It is not just spatial orientation but includes anunderstanding of the dynamics of the situation and the actions that are expected to take place inthe future [16].

The law enforcement officer, who has developed a good mental model of people and events,coupled with the probable direction of a rapidly unfolding event, can be said to have situationawareness. When a law enforcement officer has good situation awareness it increases his tacticaladvantage (a key element for successful mission accomplishment in law enforcement).


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Situation awareness boiled down to its simplest essence has three levels to it. This can be bestunderstood in terms of error taxonomy i.e., through levels impediments that exist with regardto developing good SA:

Table 1: SA Error Taxonomy [17]

Level 1: Failure to correctly perceive informationData not availableData hard to discriminate or detectFailure to monitor or observe dataMisperception of dataMemory loss

Level 2: Failure to correctly integrate or comprehend informationLack of or poor mental modelUse of incorrect mental model

Over-reliance on default valuesLevel 3: Failure to project future actions or state of the system

Lack of or poor mental modelIncorrect projection (over & under) of current trendsInability to project current trends due to failures in level 1 & level 2

Broadly speaking, good situation awareness can be provided by negating the above. In simpleterms do the following:

1) Provide goal and current taskrelevant data with the desired salience2) Bring to the fore goal-relevant cues in the environment3) Training the agent to seek and obtain goal-relevant information and designing solutions

to enable the development of the correct mental model4) Design solutions that provide the information sought by the agent on demand5) Design solutions that provide sufficient transparency not requiring multiple cognitive

transformations or interface manipulations so that agents can develop the correct mentalmodel.

3.2.4 X-treme Arousal

On occasions, law enforcement officers may find themselves operating beyond the optimal stateof arousal9. Extreme arousal occurs a.k.a., predatory cardiovascular reactions [6] when theheart rate exceeds 170 beats per minute due to unfolding events in the environment. These states

are of interest in the human factors standpoint as they result in the following:- complex motor skills breakdown- absolute breakdown of cognitive processing- the forebrain shuts down it is hijacked by the midbrain- vision becomes restricted- behavior becomes inappropriately aggressive.

9The optimal state of arousal results in a heart rate of 115 to 145 beats per minute (bpm).


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- Lose of perspective (e.g., get wrapped-up in the chase), resulting in fuzzy or loss insituational awareness

A state of high arousal triggers a number of physiological responses (increase in heart rate,sweating, excretion of certain hormones, etc.) in the body. The most infamous among this are

the parasympathetic reflex (blowing the ballast) and backlash

10

[6].

Finally, the strategic thinker will benefit from a brief survey of five major hypotheses [18] thathave been advanced to explain performance decrements and increments under highly arousedstates. They are presented below:

1) The response competition hypothesis

When an emotionally significant event impels a subject towards an urgent action, and if thatresponse overrides task performance, then the responses triggered due to the arousing event aresaid to compete with the responses required by the task. However, in some cases, arousingemotional responses facilitate task performance if they help accomplish task-related goals. For

example, it is soccer lore that when a coach makes his players angry at the opposing team, itimproves their performance (running and kicking with force) because these species-specificaggressive acts coincide with task (soccer) related goals. But too much of aggression could alsoimpair performance as it may result in disorganization of performance and may also result inthem earning penalties.

The death blossom is an example of a strongly motivated response provoked by a givencircumstance event though it is not the ideal one. For example, the death blossom phenomenonhas been observed among insufficiently trained soldiers of the newly constituted Iraqi armybecause they fail in emotional regulation. That is, following a mortar, sniper, or an improvisedexplosive device, the Iraqi solder is provoked in emptying their 30 round magazine and firewhatever belt of ammunition happens to be in the machine gun [19]. Furthermore, Grunow [19]writes that in 90% of the cases, there is no target and the soldiers always agree that this isextremely dangerous, in addition to being a grievous waste of ammunition. But they continue todo it.

In a general sense, under the response competition hypothesis, the more dominant responsesinterfere with the less dominant ones. More dominant responses are those that are unlearned asresponses to the given situation, or better practiced, or more strongly motivated under the givenconditions.

10 In extremely stressful circumstances the fight-or-flight response kicks-in and the sympathetic nervous systemmobilizes all available energy for survival. These results in nonessential activities under the control of the

parasympathetic system such as digestion, bladder control, sphincter control being completely shut down. Thebody literally blows its ballast (stress diarrhea and\or involuntary urination) in an attempt to provide all the energyresources required to ensure survival. Next, the body must pay a physiological price for an energizing process thisintense. The price that the body pays is an equally powerful backlash when the neglected demands of the

parasympathetic system return. This parasympathetic backlash occurs as soon as the danger and the excitement isover, and it takes the form of an incredibly powerful weariness.


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2) The attentional capacity hypothesis

(This has been previously discussed in Section 3.2.2 under Attention. This is now revisited in thecontext of extreme arousal).

Stimuli elicit or increase attentional arousal, and they do so in proportion to their significance, up

to some upper limit. A stimulus with intrinsic salience or biological significance attractsattention, and in the process, restricts the range of cue utilization. That is, fewer cues areattended to. And peripheral cues are the ones that are usually neglected. This accounts forperformance increment. Decrement occurs, when the subject has other things to attend to thanthose relevant to the task at hand or is so preoccupied as not to have attentional capacity todevote to construction of deliberate action, as opposed to simple, unlearned response.

3) The overflow hypothesisHere it is hypothesized that strong neuronal impulses due to arousing emotional stimuli disturbother functions. Some examples are disturbances in oxygen metabolism due to high epinephrinesecretion under emotion. More conspicuous are disturbances of motor coordination by trembling

and speech difficulties due to a dry mouth. An example of this might be seen in the study whichfound that artificially induced stress (simulated artillery fire) affected the accuracy of rifle fireamong soldiers, probably due to inadequate motor coordination [20].

4) The disorganization hypothesis

Emotional stress can be said to be disorganizing by nature and necessity, to the extent that itresults from the incompatibility of required and available responses or information presented andavailable dispositions to process it. It is also envisaged that the inability to come up withappropriate responses due to high uncertainty or danger may mobilize the behavioral inhibitionsystem, which blocks the execution of action, including thought.

A real life example of the disorganization hypothesis (incompatibility of response) can be bestappreciated by a military advisors [19] experience with a newly constituted Iraqi army:

At another time, an enemy sniper attack triggered a reaction that had Iraqis returningfire nearly 90 minutes after the enemy had delivered one deadly shot. This burstreaction may be attributed to Iraqis experiencing denial, anger, and grief all at the sametime.Their tool of choice is the blunt instrument of force directed liberally at all threatsreal and perceived.

5) The regression hypothesis

It is conjectured that high arousal results in a form of regression that results in an organismgetting into a more primitive form of functioning as the intensity increases. This has beenreferred as functional decortication. Simply put, the lower centers overrule higher centers orbecause higher centers are unable to devise ways of coping. In addition, regression itself can beconsidered a response mode available when all else fails: taking recourse to childish passivity,dependent attitude, magical thought, or taking recourse to elementary preprogrammed behaviorssuch as shouting and foot stamping.


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In closing, the psychobehavioral reactions laid out in this and previous sections can be bestappreciated from the experiential description of a marine in real combat [21]:

[note: this authors interpretation of the psychobehavioral precepts discussed in this paper,including the applicable hypotheses from the list above, are commented with italicized text in the

quote below).We were only three kilometers south of the bridge. Every tree, every wall, and every

building looked hostile (autovigilance11). I was afraid for the first time in Iraq. Against thewhite noise of the blood rushing through my head, I heard my feet tapping involuntarily onthe Humvee floor (overflow hypothesis). My knees stitched up and down like a sewingmachine (overflow hypothesis). My mouth felt dry and gummy (parasympathetic reflex ).Everything seemed to pass in a blur (attentional capacity hypothesis). I thought of warstories that talked about hyperclarity in combat, seeing every blade of grass and feelingcolors more intensely than ever before. But for me, whole city blocks faded into gray fuzz.I feared I was processing information too slowly, seeing only one of every ten things Ishould (regression hypothesis). I felt short changed. I wanted hyperclarity, too.

11 Danger induced emotion typically biases subsequent cognition. This biased cognition known as autovigilance

[22] makes humans see threats in everything and everywhere, right after being exposed to danger, in their immediateenvironment.


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4.0 Thought-log: Theory to Practice

The intent of this discourse was never to provide checklists, formulas or recipes. It is but to

provide a framework to stimulate thinking the how of thinking and not the what ofthinking and a platform for ideas to germinate and let solutions emerge as they will.

Ultimately, it is the solutions emerging from this process that will determine the technologies, ifany, to realize the desires, motivations and goals of law enforcement both at the human level(officer) and domain level (organizational & practice). Put another way, one doesnt begin witha technology and fish around for problems to solve. Or worse yet, create make-work problems where none existed before so that technology can be put to use.

Given the novel approach this discourse has taken, this section could be best described by theword Thoughtlog.12 Because it culminates in a thought process by developing a framework

and platform for thinking and developing solutions.

As mentioned earlier, the intent of this section is not to provide a recipe i.e., clich solutions ona piecemeal basis (e.g., make the knobs bigger but keep the footprint smaller) but toencourage and engage in creativity at the level of creating the next paradigm shift. Andcreativity itself, as one knows, involves cross disciplinary thinking where the framework of onefield might be used to think afresh of another. Thus the reader should not be surprised ifanalogies from the ethology of lizards to jet fighters taking-off from naval carriers are used toillustrate broad concepts and to stimulate thinking during the course of this discourse.

4.1 The Language of Design

Section 2.0 (Prologue) described signature (assertive) and challenge (territorial) displays andhow they may provide the intrinsic motivation to the law enforcement officer who is chargedwith the responsibility of maintaining law and order. The aforesaid ethological traits can be besttransmuted into a design proposition by stating that products designed for the law enforcementofficer exude the following in the way they look, feel and work:

1) Physical authority (particularly mesomorphic qualities: muscular and edgy)2) Mental authority3) Moral authority

The above three should work in tandem to provide the desired postural authority (posturingcapability), which makes the law enforcement officer to be perceived as a dependable, trustable,reliable and superior force. This is nothing but, in the language of marketing design, branding

of the service in the eyes and minds of its customers. In simple terms, it is one of the means tofacilitate law enforcement to dissuade potential law breakers and at the same time enhance thesense of confidence in the law enforcement officer amongst citizens.

12 Thus the ad hoc word Thoughtlog was coined and has been used as a title for this section, which is a naturalprogression to the preceding sections that were titled prologue and dialogue.


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It is now the designers responsibility to take these abstract values and with the appropriate useof form, material, color and method translate them into a design language that will be in harmonywith the goal and value systems of law enforcement. A design philosophy that is enshrined inthe above values will automatically give rise to other desired attributes such as ruggedness,robustness, etc., which are well known and desired attributes in this particular domain.

Furthermore, the exultation of the design language founded in the above precepts should be allpervasive (visible & invisible): should encompass from the smallest mic to the largest dash-mounted radio, to perhaps even the invisible innards of a device.

Visual design language is not limited to form or color. It may also apply to miniscule elementssuch as LEDs (e.g., brightness and color intensity), logos and markings, among others.

Besides visual design language, a law enforcement language of design needs to impinge onevery sensory system (obviously this only covers in non-covert applications). So, for example,besides visual aesthetics, the auditory chirps, crackles and sounds, tactile sensations feed backfrom the controls, feel of material should exude a sense of authority.

Finally, designers should explore avenues by which a device could both be the medium and theobject for the fostering of the innate trait of bonding [display]. That is, find out how a device canhelp the team bond together; and find out how the device by design can foster user-devicebonding.

4.2 Sensory-Perceptuals

Lets refresh our memory a summation, if you will of what was discussed in Section 3.2.1:Sensory systems react to certain class of stimuli with speed, automaticity and non-volitionally.Furthermore, stressful situations may make them oblivious to other stimuli, including those

emanating from systems and widgets. Next, the sensory system itself will react to the valence ofthe stimuli by choosing to amplify certain aspects of the environment and increase\decreaseresolution of signals in the environment.

4.2.1 Tunneling

Is there a way to accommodate the innate tunneling effects noticed among humans? We canbegin with trying to utilize whatever slack capacity may be left in the outer fringes of the tunnel.That is, maximize the use of the short-term sensory store (ability to glean and temporarily storeinformation with little or no attention) and by harnessing the veridicality characteristic(preservation of the physical details of the stimulus).

4.2.2 Design Deliberations on Sensory-Perceptuals

Design deliberations will begin by considering the innate traits and characteristics of the sensory-perceptual systems of humans.


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4.2.2.1Vitalities

Vitalities are those pieces of equipment or controls that are needed at a moments notice in agiven context and have to be interacted with in support of ongoing goal-driven behavior.

First let us begin by identifying vital devices, vital controls within the vital devices and vital

pieces of information that need to be communicated in a given work platform (e.g., a police caror a police officer on foot). Next, a pyramid of vitalities needs to be developed, particularly inthe context of highly dynamic situations. That is, the vital elements (vitalities) of a system thatmuststandout when the sensory-Perceptual (SP) capacities are degraded to varying degrees dueto task-related circumstances (Figure 6). For instance, one ascends to the apex of the pyramidwhen it is deemed that this one device or control is absolutely vital (e.g., emergency button) forsurvival i.e., when the subjects sensory system is fully locked to critical stimuli in theenvironment. The top-middle of the pyramid will be the area where there is partial slack in thesensory system and the human agent may have the capacity to preattentively process secondlevel vitalities (e.g., channel knob location, PTT, etc.). And so on. The bottom-most part of thepyramid will be an area where the subject is paying little or no attention to externalities and is

paying full attention to interacting with the workstation (e.g., car is parked and an electronicform is being filled.).

It is important to note, that the pyramid of vitalities is truly contextual in nature: that is, differentsituations may require certain [interface or informational] vitalities to be cognitively, spatiallyand temporally filtered and making them ascend to the top of the pyramid. Whereas the rest,depending on their degree of vitalities descend to the bottom of the pyramid as residue.


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Figure 6: Pyramid of vitalities, plots the relationship between decreasing\increasing sensory-perceptual capacities and the corresponding vitalities of a solution space or device. Thisexample uses a police car and relevant system-elements.

Note: The above example is for illustration purposes only. These are not recommendations for actual system design.

Once the vitalities have emerged in the form of a pyramid, standard design principles (some arestated in general terms) can be applied to enhance their salience & memorability in otherwords, sense their presence and interact with them without paying little or no attention.

4.2.2.2Higher order design directions

Based on their vitalities, most vital elements should standout (conspicuous) and less importantones should recede into the background. Conspicuity could be designed through various means(provide salience through standard design practices such as size, color, etc.). But moreimportantly the users should be made aware of their presence (vital controls) and availabilityeven without them being in the direct line of sight. Therefore, design should consider thefollowing:

1. vital controls and devices should have a loud design language that is, enhancetheir noticeability even when the senses are not actively paying any attention tothem. In other words, loudly announce the presence and availability of vitalcontrols by piercing the [users] fog of inattention

2. promote instant comprehension of an element or device (particularly formfactors could be helpful in accomplishing this, besides other avenues)

emergencybutton

channel &volume control,

PTT + above

data entry, system settings (e.g.,encryption) + all of the above

sirens & lights, RADAR control,critical system status (encryption

signal strength, etc.) + above

S-P Capacities(capacity increases

towards base)

Vital system elements(fewer & fewer elements

become vital as one ascendsto the top)


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3. promote proprioceptive memorability for controls that have to be accessed inspace and operated via physical contact including tactile recognizability (viasurface finish and\or material)

4.2.3 Reflexive ReactionsReflexive reactions (a.k.a., unconditional response13) can be used as a design solution when itbecomes a must to get a human agents attention at any cost (e.g., cease fire or evacuate orderfrom command post). This approach is particularly suited for those situations when the humanagents attention is completely locked into stimuli that have gained extraordinary currency due totheir hedonic valence or exigencies of the moment. That is, when one tunes oneself out a typeof sensorial muting of every other aspect of the environment except for one. That is the stimulior event, which due to its biological significance or emotional salience has completely consumedthe agents attentional resources and in the process has not left any slack in resources to processother stimuli or events.

The tunnel of attention can be cracked open by taking advantage of reflexive reactions (a.k.a.,unconditional response) that require neither cognition nor awareness. Obviously, stimuli such asan electrostatic discharge, etc., that can inflict significant pain should be ruled out. However,stimuli, that tends close towards evoking a startle response without causing any unduediscomfort may be considered. Some examples are a jet of warm of cold air, a tactile ripple(simulation of someone getting ones attention through touch or brushing on ones arm) could beconsidered. Additionally, the overall strength of the attention grabbing capability of the stimulican be increased by presenting it in multiple modalities and keeping them synchronized. Forexample, the pitch\peak of the tactile ripple (signal) may be synchronized with [pitches & peak]that of a tone.

4.2.3.1Conditioning

4.2.3.1.1Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning14 could be exploited to instantly produce the desired psychological state(e.g., vigilance) in the law enforcement officer. For example, whenever sirens & lights are usedin a car, one can assume that the officer is likely in a state of alert (adrenalin rush, rise in heartrate, pupil dilation, etc.) because he is either rushing to a scene or is in pursuit of another car[violation]. Over a period of time, these audiovisual effects become conditionedthroughassociative learning to the psychological state ofalertness. Now, whenever, an officer has be

aroused and put into full alert, the conditioned stimulus (e.g., sound of sirens) could be broadcaston the radio in intermittent bursts. (This is somewhat akin to the use of the bugle, bagpipes and

13 An unconditioned response is an automatic and unlearned response to specific stimuli. Example: withdrawal ofthe hand (unconditioned response) when it has inadvertently come into contact with an object that is very hot(unconditioned stimulus).14 a.k.a., Pavlovian conditioning (salivary conditioning of dogs: sequential presentation of tone & food) results whena formerly neutral stimulus is conditioned to produce an unconditioned reflex through associative learningfacilitated from repeated trials.


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drums as a rallying cry when troops marched into battle in earlier times.) The above illustrationis cited for further exploration and exploitation of the classical conditioning phenomenon toencourage the designer to consider similar pathways.

4.2.3.1.2Operant ConditioningOperant conditioning15 has been put to good effect to increase the firing rate among infantry menin actual combat. This has been accomplished by modifying their behavior by providingincentives on the firing range, including the increase in fidelity of the firing simulation. It hasbeen found [23] that providing 3-D mannequins (targets) that suddenly pop-up produce betterresults (firing rates & kills) in actual combat compared to infantry men who were trained withthe traditional [fixed] bulls-eye target. Furthermore, operant conditioning was brought to bear byproportionately rewarding the trainees with their number of [mannequin] kills.

The application of operant conditioning for the law enforcement domain in a gaming paradigm isexplored below. For instance, the speed and accuracy with which an officer is able to turn on

different combination of sirens & lights following a cue, for specific situations, can be measured(in secs.) and feedback could be provided in the form of points scored. Variations can be addedto this game by incorporating scenarios such as executing these sequences when the vehicle isparked or when driving at different speeds on the driving range. The points scored in this gamecan be cashed for, say, a gift coupon, etc. This will not only sharpen the officers reaction andmotor skills via operant conditioning but will also enhance their social status among peers byproviding a friendly, competitive gaming environment (publishing the scores in the bulletinboard or website). Similar behavior modifying approaches via operant conditioning that enhanceofficer performance can be explored.

4.3 Orientation Solutions

The orienting reflex reflexively turning attention to the source of a loud sound or novelstimulus is hardwired in humans. When information processing becomes complex and goal-driven e.g., orienting oneself to a map to obtain directions and drive to a destination orientation takes on a new meaning; it is more than a reflex. The example of map orientation anddriving to a destination is further expanded below:

1) a mental model of the navigation space needs to be established2) cues in the map need to be actively searched and matched in the environment3) as the matching or failure to match -- occurs, the mental model needs to be updated

4) as the driver flows through a dynamic situation he develops expectancies on what to seenext or expects to see he develops situation awareness

In the law enforcement domain, the rapid orientation is key for good decision-making and,ultimately, mission accomplishment. A list of key elements that need to be considered forsuccessful orientation solutions in fast-paced and highly dynamic situations are presented below:

15 Operant conditioning deals with the modification of voluntary behavior through the use of consequences.


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4.3.1 Time

Time is to be treated as a scarce commodity. Orientation truly is never complete in a highlydynamic mission critical environment. Because in mission critical domains, once the mission

has begun, change is a constant whereas the rate of change is not. It may also oscillate fromanything between mild to wild (e.g., SWAT team operations; high speed pursuits, etc.). In termsof the time dimensions (t), design solutions should enable the agent to keep situation awarenesscurrentat all times i.e., mentally go toe-to-toe with the situation as it evolves in real time.

Failing to provide the means to this and\or the agent to maintain current SA will be detrimental:it gives rise to confusion, chaos, panic, fear, mental paralysis and eventually an implosion thatknocks the agent out of action. It should be noted, that the situation (poor SA) and not theadversarial event or human(s) (e.g., gun shot or ambush) was the cause for failure. Tragically forthe police officer, the situation disabled him before a bullet was fired!

Thus it is imperative to provide all the precious nuggets of information so that the officer cankeep his SA current to the extent where he is reliably able to predict the trajectory of theunfolding event, including the ability to forecast his adversaries next move.

In terms of the future system state, design solutions should strive to minimize (tf= min.): thatis, by providing information that enables the human agent to reliably forecast the future systemstate in the least possible amount of time.

This section as you may note doesnt provide explicit prescriptions on the how of SA. It is amore a why of SA and to emphasize the crucial role it plays in volatile and rapidly evolvingmission critical engagements. The strategic thinker will have to apply the above discussed

precepts and concepts during the design and test process of systems and widgets.

4.3.2 Pattern Recognition

Orienting responses can be quickened when human agents attain rapid situation awareness.Domain experts are good at rapidly developing the correct situation awareness because they seekout cues that are relevant (goal oriented) and develop reliable expectancies on how a situationmay evolve based on their own experiences. The underlying theme here is pattern recognition inthe context of a current goal i.e., the human agent instantly evaluates the emerging pattern bycomparing it with a mental model (e.g., a map) or with a prototypical situation built from pastexperience or training (e.g., the type and nature of evasive actions and maneuvers a fleeing

suspect is likely to execute on a crowded highway: jump to the opposite lane, jump into theshoulder and cut into the adjacent service road, etc.).

In a nutshell, all cues and information that are relevant to the current goal a.k.a., goal-directed should be made available to the human agent. If the system is capable of determiningessential goal-related information filtering out the rest then, just those should be displayed.But the system should also permit the agent to access information [not displayed] on demand as


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3. Information to make a decision concerning the setup of a roadblock4. Knowledge of traffic conditions ahead5. Status of the suspect (drunk? armed?)6. *Motivation for failing to comply the pull-over request7. *Condition and capabilities (speed, power, etc.) of the suspects car

Unnecessary information (includes irrelevant information):8. Engine temperature of the police car9. Tomorrows weather forecast

Going down this path one can strip the information content to the most relevant (provideappropriate salience) and do away with the rest.For instance, in the pursuit example, one can increase the salience of two important pieces ofrelevantinformation (e.g., make them occupy the entire display space):

1. Name of the current radio talk group or channel2. Numerical display of the speed of the vehicle

and irrelevant pieces of information can be eliminated all together from the display:a. Icon for unread messages, perhaps even, signal strength16 (in the case of the radiodisplay)

b. Engine temperature (in the case of the vehicles main dashboard display).

4.3.3 Mission Space Awareness (MSA)

Every mission is conducted in a mission space17. A successful orienting response requiresmission space awareness: that is, knowledge derived from developing an abstract mental pictureof the mission relevant space in which one is operating and immersed in terms of ones spatial,temporal and informational relationships with friendly, unfriendly and neutral human agents,

including objects and machines.

The three relationships are elaborated below with examples:

Spatial: Which part of town (street intersection) is the scene of the incident (armed heist)?Temporal: In how many minutes will the support team arrive?Informational: Number of adversaries & hostages; weapons and explosives likely to be used bythe adversaries.

It is imperative that every type of mission be analyzed in terms of the above three relationships(spatial, temporal, informational) with the intent of providing the essential informational

ingredients so that the agent in the field can develop the desired MSA.

Mission space awareness itself can be classified into three types:

16 Signal strength may be shown when either a transmission fails or when the vehicle enters a dead zone.17 The term space in mission space awareness is not limited to physical space. It is truly an abstract, mental spaceof the physical space in which a mission is conducted and includes people, machines and objects relevant to thatmission that may operate within and outside that physical space.


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1. Global mission space awareness (Glob MSA)2. Local mission space awareness (Loc MSA)3. Glocal mission space awareness (Gloc MSA)

As a mission unfolds the human agent may require these three types of awareness in different

points in time.

Figure 8: An abstract mental representation not merely physical of the three types ofmission space awareness space with [simplified] couplings are shown.

The LocMSA of teams 1-3 in the field are shown with green ellipses. The Glocal MSA for team 1 and command& control is shown with the magenta colored ellipse. The Global MSA, usually required for C&C, is shown with a

blue colored ellipse. As noted below, the glocal MSA is formed by feedback and feed forward loops betweenindividual teams and C&C. Each team forms its own glocal MSA, which may either be unique or identical orsomewhere between these extremities in relation to other teams. This figure only shows the Glocal MSA for team1 and C&C.

Global Mission Space Awareness (Glob MSA)

Global mission space is defined as the abstract space both physical and mental that containsand connects the lead elements in the field and actionable18 elements with the command post. Asnoted above, these are disparate elements that may be scattered in space and have different levelsof relevance or irrelevance in time. Global mission space awareness can now be defined as theawareness of all the aforesaid elements, their status (availability\unavailability), comprehensionof their characteristics (e.g., capabilities) and dynamics (probable future states).

Global mission space awareness, for the most part, is synonymous with strategic situationawareness. At the command and control level it addresses [awareness of] issues such asavailability and status of assets (man & machine). In the field, it matches assets with task &situational demands, by raising up or lowering the tempo of the mission based on temporaldemands and marinating the focus of the mission.

18 Actionable elements are those that need to be apprehended, reconnoitered, controlled, managed, protected orsecured.

3Loc MSA

2Loc MSA Glob MSA:Command & Control

1Loc MSA

Gloc MSA


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Glob MSA for an agent (e.g., car patrol officer) in the field might be considered a projection ofthe following (sample list with examples in parenthesis):

1. the officer should be aware of the command status (e.g., mission active)2. support status (dispatch and friendlies in the field)3. status of actionable elements (accident scene or hostage taker)

4. Spatial relationships to relevant fixed and moving elements in space

Local Mission Space Awareness (Loc MSA)

The awareness of space within the reach of the human agents sensory system with minimal orno augmentation of the senses and no mental abstraction of the immediate, local, personal orfuture is defined as local mission space awareness. Typically this is the actionable area whereaction is being played out in the setup phase or final phase:

- a setup is the preceding step in a series of steps that may be required to accomplish a goal- final phase is akin to a final thrust where the action culminates in a decisive way (capture

of a fugitive or the disabling of an armed hostage taker)

The understanding of Loc MSA is furthered with more examples below.Being aware of a speeding car is an example of local mission space awareness (when the missionis to detect, stop and issue tickets to speeding cars). Another example would be the presence ofan armed hostage taker in a house. Then the house, its immediate perimeter, knowledge of itsoccupants, demands and disposition of the hostage taker constitute local mission spaceawareness.

Local situational awareness in other words is full of tactical elements and is synonymous withtactical awareness.

As local mission awareness is directly obtained by the senses, it is important that the sensory-perceptual system not be overloaded by displays and enunciators that are irrelevant to currentgoals. Particularly, in the law enforcement domain, local mission space awareness is likely to beof higher importance for reasons concerning physical safety of the officer and due to fast action-reaction times (e.g., locate-chase-apprehend cycle).

Glocal Mission Space Awareness

Glocal (global + local) mission space awareness is necessitated when the mission demands rapidand dynamic switching between global and local space awareness. This entails that glocal MSAis a necessary product for command & control and the field officer.

Gloc MSA at Command & Control Level: Feedback provided by the field officer from a andthe knowledge gleaned [through non-human sensors] from a particular locale results incommand & controls Gloc MSA getting updated. In terms of information flow this can beconsidered a feedback segment of the loop.

Gloc MSA at Field Officer Level: The Gloc MSA of the field officer will undergo changes whenthe focus of effort in the local space is shifted due to directives issued by command & control


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because of their [global] knowledge of the larger picture. In terms of information flow this canbe considered a feed forward segment of the loop.

In most cases, it is the command[er] that requires glocal mission space awareness: overall statusof the mission as it is evolving, knowledge of surface and gaps (impenetrable and penetrable

points) at various locales in physical space, status and capacities of resources, etc. In somecases, the individual officer in the field may require glocal mission space awareness whenprecise coordination combined with deception, surprise and speed are key characteristics of themission. Such circumstances are likely to arise in SWAT team operations or when conductingurban warfare (anti-gang & counterinsurgency operations). For example, agents (A group)conducting reconnaissance might be covertly updating the situation in local space to command;next the command directs another group of agents (B group) to distract the adversaries in tobreak their cohesion. Based on the birds eye view of the situation provided by command(global) and the current situation on the ground (local), the A group will develop glocal missionspace awareness and will chose an appropriate moment to strike and apprehend the adversaries.

4.4 Decision-Making

Classical Definition:Decision making simply involves the review of [alternative] courses of action and the

selection of one among them the preferred course as a hypothesi

Documents

Human Factors Discourse on Law Enforcement Psychobehaviors: Ethology to High Velocity Human Factors