Chicago police learn to think creatively through art

on Friday,February 11,2011 19:02

New police officers typically do not expect to visit an art museum as part of their training, but that is where Chicago recruits recently went to fine-tune their skills.

Recently, more than a dozen new officers visited the Art Institute of Chicago to complete an exercise designed to encourage individuals to pay attention to detail. Up until this month, the program had been discontinued, according to the Chicago Tribune. Now, Sergent Diane Shaw has her team once again visiting the facility to develop crucial skills that can be used on the job.

Shaw's goal is to get officers to think creatively about crime scenes and learn to see more than what is in front of them. The exercise is also meant to encourage individuals to trust their colleagues on the case.

"It allows the recruits to see that what their partners see can be totally different," Shaw told the news source.

The effect that the art world has on other industries may encourage individuals to look for careers in the field. People who are interested in finding a job in the arts can increase their chances by obtaining a postsecondary education, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.