International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume 11 Number 2
Decision-making skills that encompass a
critical thinking orientation for law
enforcement professionals
Wesley E. Phillips, Jr† and Darrell Norman Burrell‡
†Email: wesley.phillips10@verizon.net
‡(Corresponding author) Email: darrell.burrell@yahoo.com
Received 1 February 2008: accepted 31 May 2008
Keywords: critical thinking, decision-making, management, management
skills, skill development
Wesley E. Phillips, Jr. is a supervisory federal
agent with the United States Government. He
has over 15 years of federal law enforcement and
executive security experience. He is currently a
student on the Doctor of Management pro-
gramme at Colorado Technical University. He has
a Master of Science in Management and a
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
from Colorado Technical University. He also has
an Associate of Science in Criminal Justice from
Florida Metropolitan University.
Darrell Norman Burrell is a faculty member with
Averett University. He is also a Presidential Man-
agement Fellow http://www.pmf.gov with over
18 years of management experience. Mr Burrell
is also a doctoral student. He has an EdS (Post
Master’s Terminal Degree) in Higher Education
Administration from George Washington Uni-
versity. He has graduate degrees in Human
Resources Management and Organisational
Management from National Louis University, and
a graduate degree in Sales and Marketing Man-
agement from Prescott College.
ABSTRACT
This article discusses the challenges of engaging in
critical thinking skills for law enforcement pro-
fessionals and the importance of making sound
decisions in the wake of new emerging threats
that stem from domestic to international crime.
Critical thinking skills are inevitably becoming a
new business function for all types of organisa-
tions. Traditional management methodologies of
some law enforcement agencies may be anti-
quated, dictating the fact that organisational
development/change may be required. Critical
thinking skills can prove to be necessary for law
enforcement professionals in acquiring new ways
of thinking more proficiently and becoming more
proactive in combating traditional violent crimes
and more modern crimes, such as terrorism,
organised crime and cyber crimes.
INTRODUCTION
Law enforcement and public safety pro-
fessionals risk their lives daily to protect and
save the general public from potential and
immediate dangers. Since 1993, the United
States has been affected by many domestic
terrorist attacks (eg Timothy McVeigh and
the Oklahoma City Bombing on 19 April
1995) and international terrorist attacks (eg
the World Trade Centre bombing of 1993
and the attack on 11 September 2001, the
attack on the Pentagon on 11 September
2001, or on the USS Cole on 12 October International Journal of Police
Science and Management,
2000). The United States has experienced Vol. 11 No. 2, 2009, pp. 141–149.
DOI: 10.1350/ijps.2009.11.2.118
what most developing countries have
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Critical thinking skills for law enforcement professionals
endured for years — terrorism and mass
destruction. The day of fighting the tradi-
tional blue- and white-collar crimes has
expanded beyond measure. The general
public has now expanded to become the
world, and this ‘rude awakening’ dictates
that law enforcement and public safety pro-
fessionals must be prepared to meet the
challenge.
Violent crimes, such as rape, murder, or
armed robbery, are being overshadowed by
more intricate, heinous crimes — terror-
ism, organised crime, cyber crimes, etc.
Law enforcement professionals are increas-
ingly being challenged to think of fresh
strategies to combat these new and emerg-
ing threats. The Government Accountability
Office (2007b) reported that ‘following the
9/11 attacks, the President issued a series of
strategies that provided broad direction for
overseas law enforcement efforts to assist
nations to identify, disrupt, and prosecute
terrorists’. In fact, law enforcement mis-
sions of many United States agencies have
been altered and/or expanded to include
more proactive approaches toward terror-
ism. For example, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation’s mission has changed to the
following:
Our mission is to help protect you, your
communities, and your businesses from
the most dangerous threats facing our
nation — from international and
domestic terrorists to spies on U.S. soil
. . . from cyber villains to corrupt gov-
ernment officials . . . from mobsters to
violent gangs . . . from child predators to
serial killers. (Federal Bureau of Invest-
igation, 2007)
While this is a step in the right direction,
many other law enforcement agencies need
to follow suit. In order to protect the
United States, law enforcement agencies
must learn to be more proactive and begin
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‘thinking outside the box’. ‘More creative
management and organizational paradigms,
such as the boundary-less organization, net-
work structures and global teams, have
become the norm in many societies around
the world.’ (McLean, 2007).
NEW THREATS TO LAW
ENFORCEMENT DECISION-MAKING
Terrorism is more than just hijacking an
aeroplane or attacking a ‘bricks-and-mortar’
facility. Terrorists have proven that they are
willing to do and learn anything in order to
make their point known. They are com-
puter savvy and have proven themselves as
more than worthy opponents by commit-
ting attacks daily that contribute to huge
financial loss.
Various studies and experts estimate the
direct economic impact from cyber
crime to be in the billions of dollars
annually. The annual loss due to com-
puter crime was estimated to be $67.2
billion for U.S. organizations, according
to a 2005 Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) survey. In addition, there is con-
tinued concern about the threat that our
adversaries, including nation-states and
terrorists, pose to our national security.
(Government Accountability Office,
2007c)
Security countermeasures should not be
limited solely to fixed structures, but need
to be expanded to virtual fixtures as well.
‘Private entities – Internet service pro-
viders, security vendors, software develop-
ers, and computer forensics vendors – focus
on developing and implementing techno-
logy systems to protect against computer
intrusions, Internet fraud, and spam and, if
a crime does occur, detecting it and gather-
ing evidence for an investigation’ (Govern-
ment Accountability Office, 2007c). Law

enforcement professionals should embrace
this idea as a critical thinking stratagem.
New skills are required of the law enforce-
ment professional. What other atrocities
have terrorists thought of? The simple
nature of the profession and the threats
dictate the necessary transition from a
highly trained individual who carries a fire-
arm in the community to a more proactive
thinker who can protect industries, even
nations.
FUNDING, LIMITED SKILLS, &
TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT
Law enforcement and public safety agencies
may not possess the skills necessary to com-
bat the many terrorist threats of the millen-
nium. The simple lack of finances and
training are serious issues with which many
law enforcement agencies must contend.
For example, ‘the core curriculum used at
the Border Patrol Academy has not changed
since September 11, but the Border Patrol
added new material on responding to
terrorism and practical field exercises’.
(Government Accountability Office,
2007a). Funding issues are inevitable for
most organisations, but overcoming this
shortcoming is necessary for law enforce-
ment professionals adequately to provide
employees with the tools necessary to com-
bat the threats against the nation.
Another true challenge to law enforce-
ment agencies concerns how they do busi-
ness and make leadership decisions. Law
enforcement executives can sometimes be
their own worst enemy. Traditional organ-
isational management styles have proven to
cause law enforcement agencies to be slow
to change. French and Stewart (2001) argue
that ‘like many American organizations, law
enforcement predominantly still uses old
models of bureaucratic design, with power
centered at the top, resulting in modest
change efforts. The savvy implementation
Phillips and Burrell
for organizational change remains a primary
issue for law enforcement.’ While there may
be many other challenges that exist, these
examples suggest that a detailed thinking
strategy is vital to a successful, proactive
approach towards addressing national
security threats.
In many organisations, bad decisions
often occur by not making a decision at all
in a situation that is in need of attention.
This can occur in organisations, where
responsibility, accountability, blame and
punishment are attached to an action or
decision that is not successful, while the
same level of punishment and blame is not
usually levied on individuals who do not
take a risk and do not make a decision.
How does a law enforcement profes-
sional make the correct leadership decisions
when the unexpected occurs, existing plans
are insufficient, and important organisa-
tional core values and goals are threatened?
The development of critical thinking skills
in today’s law enforcement and public safety
professionals has never been more vital. The
engagement in managerial critical thinking
is about the psychological aspects of learn-
ing to apply experience-based, team-based
and formal problem-solving methods to
situations. It is essential to develop a keen
ability to overcome and become self-aware
of biases, false assumptions, myths, and
faulty paradigms that can hamper effective
decision-making (Bazerman, 2005).
CRITICAL THINKING: A PROACTIVE
LEADERSHIP OPERATIONS
FUNCTION
Why does it take a major catastrophe to
occur before some people react or learn to
engage in forms of progressive thinking that
consider multiple plausible scenarios? Being
proactive is a major organisational function
that law enforcement professionals need to
embrace. Being reactive only causes people
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Critical thinking skills for law enforcement professionals
to judge and point the finger at others. For
law enforcement professionals, developing
and implementing tactical plans are only
part of the solution. ‘Tactical case support
prevails, yet operational strategic analysis
and predictive intelligence or warning intel-
ligence is non-existent or misunderstood.’
(French & Stewart, 2001). Critical thinking
empowers strategic intelligence support.
The world and many organisations have
already accepted critical thinking as a stand-
ard operating procedure. Catling (2007)
contends that ‘now that thinking about
thinking is globally accepted as a critical
business function, the most successful com-
panies not only recognize, but also embrace,
the behaviors and skills required’.
The engagement in leadership critical
thinking is about learning to apply
experience-based, team-based, and formal
problem-solving methods to situations.
Consider when law enforcement profes-
sionals are given firearms training. They are
taught to engage in a form of scenario-
based decision analysis when deciding to
shoot or not to shoot in tense situations.
To engage effectively in critical thinking
it is essential to develop a keen ability to
overcome and become self-aware of biases,
false assumptions, myths, and faulty para-
digms that can hamper effective decision-
making. The engagement in critical
thinking is about learning how to overcome
those biases to make better managerial deci-
sions and develop new activities so that they
become part of permanent leadership
behaviour (Bazerman 2005). Critical think-
ing in leadership decision-making is about
developing the ability to cut through the
clutter of information, myths, assumptions,
and buzz words. The most crucial task fac-
ing leaders in today's brutally competitive
economy is to sharpen his or her organisa-
tion's ability to solve problems effectively,
make decisions, and cut through the
information clutter (Spitzer & Evans,
1997).
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When engaging in critical thinking, law
enforcement professionals should create
multiple solutions to problems by constantly
questioning and challenging their strengths,
and examining decision-making preferences
and practices. This process is about thinking
collectively and strategically about crime
prevention. Thinking is fuelled by ques-
tions. Questions define variables, state fac-
tors, outline tasks, clarify issues and express
problems. Complex questioning drives
thought beyond what is superficial and
historical. Asking questions forces everyone
involved in the decision to express and
challenge preconceived notions and as-
sumptions. Asking questions forces public
safety professionals to look at their sources
of information and consider the validity and
quality of the information. Having a career
in law enforcement today is not about
enforcing the law; it is about developing an
advanced level of thinking and planning
skills so that countermeasures can be devel-
oped to stop criminal catastrophes before
they occur instead of enforcing the law after
an event.
Critical thinking and effective problem-
solving is an optimal process to reach well-
thought-out decisions that not only develop
strong remedies to organisational perplex-
ities, but also create an ability to rank and
assess how well the solution meets the over-
all goals and objectives. This kind of in-
depth questioning and analysis helps to
ensure that the solution will actually solve
the problem, not just be the best of medi-
ocre options. Engaging in this process also
creates a mechanism of reassessment where,
if the solution does meet a determined level
of satisfaction, the decision-makers reopen
the process and further research, or brain-
storm, until the most effective outcome of
decision is established (McAuliffe, 2005).
Theorists have hypothesised that critical
thinking is correlated with internal motiva-
tion to think. Cognitive skills of analysis,
interpretation, explanation, evaluation and

correcting one’s own reasoning are at the
heart of critical thinking. It is very possible
that intelligence analysts, law enforcement
professionals and homeland security experts
can develop those skills to the extent of
their natural abilities through practice and
guidance just like their artistic, athletic, or
leadership skills. Self-reflection is a very
important skill in decision-making. This
process includes the understanding of prin-
ciples and strategies, financial constraints
and probability. Furthermore, this process is
about expanding and understanding psy-
chology and even sociology in addition to
learning to assess values, expectations and
needs of employees, organisational stake-
holders and their reaction to leadership
decisions (Welch, 2001).
For those who engage in law enforce-
ment threat assessment, the use of critical
thinking skills is purposeful — the self-
regulatory review process results in inter-
pretation, analysis, evaluation and inference,
as well as explanation of the evidential,
conceptual, methodological, or contextual
considerations upon which that judgement
is based. Critical thinking is a vital tool of
inquiry. The successful application of these
core critical skills requires that an individual
takes into reasoned consideration the evid-
ence, methods, contexts, theories and cri-
teria which, in effect, define specific
disciplines, fields and areas of human con-
cern. The process is more than just making
decisions. It is also about the ability con-
sistently to develop better alternatives, rank
the alternatives that are developed, make
better group decisions even in contentious
environments, and sell or defend decisions
successfully within any organisational hier-
archy (McAuliffe, 2005).
DECISION-MAKING THAT USES
CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
In 1973 Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton
introduced a contingency decision-making
Phillips and Burrell
model for organisational leaders as a means
of improving the psychological and socio-
logical factors that influence how sound
leadership decisions should be made.
Vroom and Yetton’s Normative Model is
fundamentally a decision tree that should be
employed and considered in making sound
decisions grounded in critical thinking. The
tree contains pronouncement methods,
problem types, eight underlying predica-
ment attributes and seven rules for combin-
ing the whole thing plausibly. Vroom and
Yetton have linked different problem types
with comprehensive methods to unravel
them, which is a core pillar of critical
thinking. When a state of affairs arises that
needs a leader’s consideration in some way,
the leader is expected to address the eight
psychological and sociological rudiments of
the model, recognised as A through H in
the decision analysis tree. As each building
block is confronted, it leads to other par-
ticular elements based on ‘yes’ or ‘no’
answers. During the decision action
sequence, a leader is left with resolution
options based on the answers that are critic-
ally decided at each stage of questioning.
The options match up to the psychological
and sociological decision methods which
are labelled as to whether they are auto-
cratic (A); consultative (C); group (G); or
delegated (D). The eight problem attributes
that should be utilised are as follows:
● The leader must decide the signific-
ance of the worth of the decision.
● The leader must conclude if he or
she has adequate data, organisa-
tional knowledge, or expertise to
make the decision without the con-
tribution of others.
C. The leader must establish if the
employees have essential information to
present a sound decision.
D. The leader must determine if the
quandary is structured or unstructured;
there are usually procedures within the
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Critical thinking skills for law enforcement professionals
organisation for addressing structured
problems versus unstructured problems
based on the availability of organisational
knowledge and the existence of pertinent
organisational information.
E. The leader must decide if the ac-
ceptance buy-in of the decision by
employees is critical to the execution of
the decision.
F. The leader must determine the like-
lihood that an autocratic decision made
by the leader will be embraced by the
staff.
G. The leader must determine if the staff
are supportive and recognise the values
and organisational benefits of solving the
problem.
H. The leader must determine if the
employees are likely to disagree with the
selected actions for solving the problem.
(Vroom & Yetton, 1973)
A plethora of adaptations of the Vroom and
Yetton (1973) decision tree analysis can be
found in the literature. Vroom used seven
investigative questions in the form of a
decision tree to identify the psychological
and sociological types of leadership styles
used in a management decision-making
model. These questions focus on protecting
the quality and acceptance of a decision.
1. Establishment of goals and objectives for
solving the problem
no yes
2. Identify possible causes of the problem
no yes
3. Develop plausible solutions to the
problem
no yes
4. Evaluate potential of each solution for
solving problem and long- and short-
term consequences of each course of
action
no yes
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5. Select most promising solution or course
of action
no yes
6. Implement solution, evaluate results, and
modify course of action if needed
no yes
BENEFITS OF CRITICAL THINKING
Effective critical thinkers engage in com-
prehensive, flexible thinking, thus enhan-
cing managers’ ability to generate good
alternatives, design something new and suc-
cessfully plan and implement. They can
develop strategies to manage and analyse
information and risk perception in high-
pressure situations. Homeland security
administrators and other law enforcement
professionals must develop the ability to
identify and avoid reasoning fallacies, so
that they can present sound, persuasive
arguments for critically examining the con-
cepts of change and innovation as ongoing
processes for organisational renewal. When
done effectively, critical thinking skills can
allow law enforcement and public safety
professionals to:
● develop paths to reasoned judgement
when variables in a situation are
changing and evolving;
● understand how to build group
thought-provoking consensus around
complex issues;
● learn to encourage and ensure con-
sideration of many breakthrough or
‘outside-the-box’ ideas;
4. reduce off-focus debates and tangents
dramatically;
5. reduce the number and duration of
meetings;
6. discover how to foster equal participa-
tion by all group members, including
bosses and subordinates; and
7. acquire techniques to speed up group
decision-making, while still developing
multiple solutions.

By developing critical thinking skills and
tools, public safety and law enforcement
professionals can enhance their ability to
solve problems constructively through the
engagement of new forms of decision ana-
lysis assessment. These evaluation actions
include:
● overcoming the first notion that there is
only one ‘right solution’ to the organisa-
tional quandaries;
● eliminating mental blocks in the forms of
biases, myths and false assumptions;
● stopping to think before acting and mak-
ing quick decisions without the benefit
of data and variable evaluation;
● focusing on the organisation’s goals and
values before taking a major decision by
asking if the ideal outcome is in align-
ment with the mission and values;
● writing down all the positive and neg-
ative factors for and against taking a
particular course of action;
● getting opinions and feedback from
others;
● establishing priorities by asking what the
critical factors are and what the single
most important consideration is;
● looking for opportunities in any decision
— each ‘mistake’ is a potential opportun-
ity for the organisation to learn and
grow;
● making decisions with an understanding
that the variables and circumstances have
the ability to change;
● changing the course of action if the
strategy is not working;
● not making decisions by only looking
backwards; and
● looking ahead to the future in a spirit of
hope and optimism because the past is
already gone.
CONCLUSION
Critical thinking skills can be learned with
practice and guidance (See APPENDIX I),
Phillips and Burrell
by changing the actions involved in
decision-making so that they become part
of the permanent behaviour of law enforce-
ment professionals engaged in the most
complex aspects of threat protection and
technology-driven law enforcement activ-
ities. Law enforcement and public safety
depend upon collaboration between those
with experience, both through a collective
pooling of ideas and through the spur of
thinking in creative ‘outside the box’ ways.
To minimise or get rid of terrorist threats,
the development of critical thinking skills in
homeland security risk management has
never been more vital.
As a final thought, critical thinking skills
in law enforcement and public safety should
involve thinking of different scenarios and
weighing probable solutions for every situ-
ation. Whether the probability of occur-
rence is low or high, these situations are still
possible and deserve detailed discussions and
countermeasure planning. For example, the
likelihood of one aeroplane, let alone two
aeroplanes, flying into the World Trade
Centre was highly unlikely. A well-planned,
multi-terrorist attack on US soil was more
than likely thought of as improbable. The
idea is for law enforcement professionals to
move away from the usual way of thinking
to a more detailed thought process that
incorporates the impossible. Critical think-
ing plays an important role in unravelling
ethical choices and legal responsibility, as it
empowers the thinker to become truly
innovative in his or her thought processes.
McLean (2007) states that ‘everyone
should take responsibility for their own
personal creativity behaviors and skill devel-
opment, whatever their role or level’.
Terrorists are well ahead of the curve, with
their innovative ways of causing destruc-
tion. New developmental and innovative
problem-solving skills are required of almost
everyone in every organisation. This is no
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Critical thinking skills for law enforcement professionals
different for law enforcement and public
safety professionals who have to meet the
challenges of being proactive, preparing
for and documenting the probability of
the next terrorist attack, considering all
traditional business functions (eg strategic
planning, forecasting and funding, risk
management, decision-making, etc.), while
still combating the same old traditional
crimes and new emerging threats. McLean
feels that ‘by adopting creative thinking
throughout the organization, managers will
overcome the challenges of this era of
turbulence and change’.
In 2008, it was 15 years since the first
terrorist attack on United States soil. Devel-
oping critical thinking skills for law
enforcement professionals has tremendous
value, and can be achieved by concentrating
on new academic approaches, such as
obtaining new advanced degrees that
concentrate on management/leadership, en-
couraging new organisational development/
change, and simply encouraging interesting
conversation among fellow professionals
which promotes ‘thinking outside the box’.
REFERENCES
Bazerman, M. (2005). Judgment in managerial
decision making. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and
Sons.
Catling, T. (2007). Creative thinking: a truly
renewable energy resource. Innovative
Thinking. 1, 22-23.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2007). About
us. Retrieved December 25, 2007, from:
http://www.fbi.gov/aboutus.htm.
French, B., & Stewart, J. (2001, September).
Organizational development in law
enforcement environment. FBI Law
Enforcement Bulletin, 14-19.
Government Accountability Office. (2007a).
Border patrol: costs and challenges related to
training new agents (GAO-07-997).
Washington, DC: author.
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Government Accountability Office. (2007b).
Combating terrorism: law enforcement agencies
lack directives to assist foreign nations (GAO-
07-697). Washington, DC: author.
Government Accountability Office. (2007c).
Cyber crime: public and private entities face
challenges in addressing cyber threats (GAO-
07-705). Washington, DC: author.
McAuliffe, T. (2005). The 90% solution: a
consistent approach to optimal business decision.
Los Angles, CA: Authorhouse.
McLean, J. (2007). The art of thinking outside
of the box. Management Matters, 3, 16.
Spitzer, Q., & Evans, R. (1997). Heads you
win: how the best companies think. New York:
Simon & Schuster.
Vroom, V. H., & Yetton, P. W. (1973).
Leadership and Decision-Making. Pittsburg,
PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Welch, D. (2001). Decisions, decisions: the art of
effective decision making. New York:
Prometheus Books.
APPENDIX I
EXECUTIVE COURSES TO DEVELOP
CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
Critical thinking courses in the US. The
goal of these courses is to help managers:
● become familiar with different styles of
thinking and identify their personal crit-
ical thinking preferences;
● ask themselves the ‘big picture’
questions;
● learn how to use critical thinking to
challenge assumptions and expand per-
ceptions about situations;
● come to better conclusions and decisions
more often.
Colorado Technical University has an on-
line Doctor of Management programme
that requires 4 applied research projects
instead of a dissertation. The programme
has classes and a curriculum focus on

developing managers with strong Critical
Thinking skills.
http://www.instituteforadvancedstudies.
com
The University of Mass has an on-line cer-
tificate programme in Critical Thinking.
http://ccde.umb.edu/certyificates/cct/
Phillips and Burrell
The American Management Association has
a classroom course in Critical Thinking.
http://www.amanet.org
Management Concepts is a professional
training organisation which offers a class-
room course in critical thinking.
http://www.mgmtconcepts.com
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