PPSC Staff Profile
Laura Zimmerman, PhD
Dr. Laura Zimmerman received her
Ph.D. in experimental psychology from University of Texas at El Paso in
2006. The focus of her dissertation was on understanding how police
officers with varying levels of experience make decisions during
critical incidents. Simultaneous with this research, she developed a
police training course that utilized simulation training, extensive
interviewing about decision processes, and an in-class course on
critical incident decision making that incorporated lecture, video,
class discussion, and decision making games. Her immediate plans include
further research on the decision making processes of police officers as
individuals and as teams in a wide variety of critical situations. The
goal of this research program is to develop methodologies for obtaining
decision-maker knowledge, to specify the situation assessment and action
choice process of novice and experienced police officers, and to develop
training courses to teach officers methods for enhancing their decision
processes. She plans to develop decision making courses for use in
regular police training and within multiple areas of law enforcement.
While in graduate school Dr. Zimmerman worked in the Eyewitness Research
Laboratory, focusing research on eyewitness issues. Her Master’s Thesis
focused on memory enhancing eyewitness interview techniques. She
conducted research on simultaneous and sequential lineups and assessed
differences in eyewitness identification decisions. She assisted in
consultation on court cases involving eyewitness identification issues,
evaluated lineup fairness, and addressed case issues that relate to
psychological research. She participated in the research and development
of PC_Eyewitness, a computerized lineup administration program. She
received her B.A. in Psychology, with a minor in Criminal Justice, from
San Francisco State University in May 2000. At San Francisco State she
participated in a research project involving the use of laptop computers
in police cars, where she conducted field research by riding along with
and recording the activities of patrol officers.
Dr. Zimmerman currently conducts research and teaches at the El Paso
County Sheriff’s Academy. She is certified by the Texas Commission on
Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education as a law enforcement
instructor. Besides developing and teaching the 8-hr Critical Incident
Decision Skills Training course, she developed and teaches a 16-hr
course on Eyewitness Interviewing and Identification Techniques.
View Dr. Zimmerman's CV
©2004 The Police Policy Studies Council. All rights reserved.
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