UDEE Critical Thinking and Analysis 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An officer notices that a store's alarm is sounding, the front door is ajar, and a car is idling nearby with no one inside. What is the MOST logical initial conclusion?
- The store owner forgot to lock up
- A possible burglary is in progress or just occurred (Correct answer)
- The alarm malfunctioned and the door blew open
- A delivery driver left their car running
Correct answer: A possible burglary is in progress or just occurred
Multiple converging indicators — alarm, open door, and abandoned running vehicle — most logically suggest a burglary in progress or recent crime.
Question 2: Which of the following is an example of a hasty generalization?
- All three witnesses reported seeing the same suspect flee north
- Two officers responded to similar calls this week, so crime must be rising citywide (Correct answer)
- The suspect's fingerprints matched those found at the scene
- The patrol log showed increased activity in the district
Correct answer: Two officers responded to similar calls this week, so crime must be rising citywide
Concluding citywide crime is rising based on only two incidents is a hasty generalization drawn from an insufficient sample.
Question 3: A supervisor receives two conflicting reports about the same incident from two officers. The BEST first step is to:
- Accept the report from the senior officer as accurate
- Dismiss both reports and start a new investigation
- Identify specific points of disagreement and seek corroborating evidence (Correct answer)
- Combine both reports into one composite account
Correct answer: Identify specific points of disagreement and seek corroborating evidence
Identifying specific conflicts and seeking additional evidence is the most analytically sound approach to resolving contradictory accounts.
Question 4: If every officer on Watch A completed their report on time last month, and Officer Davis is on Watch A, what can be concluded?
- Officer Davis always completes reports on time in general
- Officer Davis completed reports on time last month (Correct answer)
- Officer Davis is the best report writer on Watch A
- Officer Davis will complete reports on time this month
Correct answer: Officer Davis completed reports on time last month
The only valid deduction is that Officer Davis completed reports on time last month, since that is directly stated in the universal premise.
Question 5: An investigator is reviewing surveillance footage and notices a suspect enters a building at 9:02 AM and exits at 9:47 AM. The crime occurred between 9:15 and 9:30 AM inside the building. What does this evidence establish?
- The suspect committed the crime
- The suspect had opportunity to commit the crime (Correct answer)
- The suspect is the prime suspect and should be charged
- The suspect was not involved because they exited after the crime window
Correct answer: The suspect had opportunity to commit the crime
The footage establishes that the suspect was present during the crime window, proving opportunity but not guilt.
Question 6: Which reasoning pattern is demonstrated here: 'Crime rates drop whenever more officers are on patrol. We added patrols last month. Therefore, crime dropped because of the patrols.'
- Valid deductive reasoning
- Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy (Correct answer)
- Argument from authority
- False dilemma
Correct answer: Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy
Assuming that because patrols increased before a crime drop, patrols caused the drop is a post hoc fallacy — correlation is not causation.
Question 7: A witness states: 'I'm not totally sure, but I think the car was either blue or green.' How should an investigator treat this statement?
- Record it as confirmed — the car was blue or green
- Discard it entirely because the witness is uncertain
- Note it as tentative information to be verified with other evidence (Correct answer)
- Assume the car was blue since it was listed first
Correct answer: Note it as tentative information to be verified with other evidence
Uncertain witness statements should be recorded as tentative leads to be corroborated, not accepted as fact or discarded.
UDEE Critical Thinking and Analysis 3
An officer notices that a store's alarm is sounding, the front door is ajar, and a car is idling nearby with no one inside.
What is the MOST logical initial conclusion?