Case Studies
Chapter 14: Use of Power
You are the lieutenant in charge of the department’s fugitive section. Much of your work is done early in the morning or late in the evening. Your department has experienced recent budget cuts. In your section, you have one officer and one administrative person assigned to work with you. Your captain supervises you as well as the prisoner moving and housing section. There are 20 other officers assigned to the prisoner moving and housing section.
Because of the budget crunch, the chief has ordered that paid overtime cannot be worked. However, the chief has relayed that any officer can work overtime in exchange for compensated time off.
You think your captain uses his position to threaten others so they will follow his direction. You consider him an “egotistical blowhard” who does not know as much as he thinks he knows. You follow his orders, though, because you respect the position if not the person.
You have been working a significant amount of compensatory time trying to arrest fugitives, who do not keep 9-to-5 hours. The captain asks that you move prisoners on compensatory time. You know that prisoner moves can be scheduled and should be able to occur during normal working hours. You tell the captain that you do not want to work compensatory time to move prisoners. You tell him that you are currently working a significant amount of compensatory time, keeping the fugitive section current.
The captain responds, saying that he thought that you wanted to eventually be promoted to captain. You take that as a threat that he will try to prevent your promotion if he can. You know that the captain has no real influence on promotions, and his reputation in the department is as an “empty uniform.”
You know that the chief likes the work you do, and seems to believe that autocratic management is not the best way to run the department. The chief also appears to have an accurate “read” on the captain’s personality traits.