Green: The Police Manager, 7th Edition

Case Studies

Chapter 17: Ethics for the 21st Century

You are the captain in a small department. You report directly to the chief. Your chief is very inexperienced and has only been in law enforcement a couple of years. He is, however, very politically connected. You are the department’s executive officer as well as the first-line supervisor. The chief has absolutely no management experience. He has created an open-door policy that is fairly ambiguous.

One of your officers has taken this policy to mean that he can by-pass you and go to the chief’s office anytime with anything. Because the chief lets this happen, you are often not approached by this officer with items that should go up the chain of command.

The other officers in the department have taken to viewing this officer as the “office snitch” and have started “planting” stories to see what happens with them. The officer takes directly to the chief whatever stories he has “overheard” or been told. The chief calls you into his office and asks you what you are going to do with the allegations.

Questions

What do you tell the chief, if anything?
Your Answer

Correct Answer

Tell your chief that you need to talk to the source of the information.
How damaging is this to your department?
Your Answer

Correct Answer

This is a morale destroyer. In addition to officers having to be careful in what they say and do, the allegations have so far been baseless.
What do you say to the other officers, if anything?
Your Answer

Correct Answer

Interview the other officers in the department to determine if in fact any such thing did happen. If, after interviewing the officers, you find out there appears to be no credibility in the accusations, advise the chief that the officers believe that the officer is a direct conduit to the chief and that the other officers are indirectly “feeding” information to the chief.