How do police officers recall details so well?

Question

i spoke with a friend of mine (who is a cop) and she was able to recall amazing detail from memory! i told my mom about it and she said when she was a kid a former friend of hers was able to do the same, and that there was a "trick" to it. i know police officers carry note books, reference books and have computers in their cars (cause you can't remember everything). but it seems like manny of the officers i talk to have an eye and memory for detail.

i just want to know if there really is a "trick" to it or if it's just something that is learned over time?

Answer 1

Copious and required note-taking. They re-read reports all the time. Contemporaneous notes are often the best recollection.

Answer 2

It is like anything else, if you practice... you get better.

As a Field Training Officer, one of the methods I use to train is called "commentary driving". You basically recite out loud everything you see while driving on patrol. Stating things out loud assists with memory. After a while, you no longer have to recite out loud, as your brain is "trained" to recall things.

Answer 3

its a learned behavior

as a cop you are trained to know your surroundings

Answer 4

I try to write my reports as soon after an event as possible. Then I will read the report at least twice...that seems to keep it in my mind.

I have countless pocket books and binders full of notes, license plate numbers, mug shots etc of dirties I'm looking for etc-I go through them every week or so.

With license plates I use word games to remember. Thus if I'm looking for a plate "357WER". I will try to make a phrase

with the words starting with W. E. and R...seems to work.

Answer 5

While some of it is "training " and having done regular tasks many times, another part is the part I like to call " the cop mind ".

The cop mind is developed, by training, but it is really an individual thing, and not every one is capable of having one . Memory/recall  of things, places and people is what separates the ordinary cop from the superior cop, The superior cop has a passion for the job and isn't just a plodder who is "putting in time till pension  "

He or she does the job with imagination and is a determined and dedicated person, regardless of the type of crime, or how the department is structured. They find ways to be good  at the job, be it traffic accident investigations, gangs and guns , or cold  case homicides.

The best rise to the top.  Being good  at the job will all ways beat being lucky.

But being both is nice, too.

Jim B. Toronto.