What ability does reading comprehension refer to?

Reading comprehension refers specifically to the capacity to understand and interpret written text. This skill involves not only recognizing words but also deriving meaning from sentences, grasping the main ideas, identifying supporting details, and making inferences. It's a fundamental ability for anyone, especially in law enforcement, where interpreting reports, laws, and various documents accurately is crucial for effective communication and decision-making.

Understanding written material is essential for officers, as they need to comprehend training manuals, legal documents, and incident reports to perform their duties effectively. Mastering reading comprehension enables law enforcement personnel to gather important information quickly and ensure they are informed when addressing situations or writing reports.

While summarizing content and analyzing literature are related skills that involve comprehension, they are more specific applications or extensions of the broader ability to understand and interpret text. Writing text also ties to comprehension but is different in focus, centering more on the production of language rather than the understanding of it.