DB.H30

CASE STUDY

Officer Linda Willard Linda

Willard is a member of the Sea View Police Department and is in her ninth year of service. She is married and has two children, three and six years old. She is a graduate of the local community college, with a degree in law enforcement. As a college student, she interned in three different local law enforcement agencies. She was an explorer scout, and, as a youth, she spent weekends riding a dirt bike, which influenced her career goal to become a motorcycle officer.

The Sea View Police Department has 642 sworn positions, including 14 motorcycle officers who make up the traffic unit. Officer Willard had been on a waiting list for six years before passing a series of rigid coordination and safety tests and receiving the appointment to the motorcycle unit.

As a patrol officer, she enforces the law aggressively, and her orientation is extremely legalistic. In her view, the law is “absolute,” and a violation is a violation. There is no room for consideration of the spirit of the law. A transgressor of the law should always be arrested or cited, she feels; social consideration should be left up to social workers.

Officer Willard really enjoys her work and riding her bike in the countryside. She refused to take a promotional examination prior to her assignment to traffic, because it was more important to her to become a motor officer than to receive a promotion. Within the department, the motor officers are looked upon as a different breed. They are viewed as highly aggressive and always in the thick of things, with a real love of facing danger. The unit members consider themselves the real elite unit in the department. All members have a great deal of pride not only in the work they perform but also in their uniform and physical appearance, which set them apart from other members of the department.

Officer Willard has been involved in three accidents since her appointment to the motorcycle unit. In every instance, she was fortunate enough not to be seriously injured, but the motorcycles were totaled. Top management in the police department is becoming increasingly concerned about the aggressive behavior of the members of the motorcycle unit—not only in their contact with the public but also in the increasing number of accidents and injuries to officers. During the last calendar year, motorcycle officers have been involved in nine accidents. As a result of injuries, one officer has been retired on disability, and three officers have been on sick leave for a total of 61 days. Unfortunately, during the same period, the number of citizen complaints against motor officers has doubled as compared to the average for the previous five calendar years.

The officer in charge of the traffic unit, Captain Roger Miles, has been asked to devise a program for reducing motorcycle accidents and citizen complaints. The chief questions Miles’s selection of Linda Willard because of her aggressive nature, the number of accidents she has been involved in recently, and the fact that she has received four citizen complaints during the last year. If you were Captain Miles, how would you handle this problem? Do you think motor officers should be selected because they are aggressive? After reaching a conclusion, keep it in mind, and then after reading this chapter, review this case and see if your solution changes.

CASE STUDY

John Powell

John Powell has been a patrol officer for seven years in the Metropolitan Police Department. He is a graduate of the local university, where he majored in political science. During his college years, he was an outstanding football player and could favorably be de-scribed as a big man on campus. After graduation, he served in the Army for six years and was discharged with the rank of Captain.

In the police academy, he was considered by his instructors to be one of the best cadets to ever graduate from the program. Powell passed the field-training and probationary periods with flying colors, and each of his supervisors anticipated that he would move rapidly through the ranks. After his second year in patrol, he served success-fully as a member of the department’s SWAT team and then as a member of a special task force that monitored the activities of paroled offenders with extensive criminal records.

Officer Powell has taken the sergeants examination twice but failed the written portion both times. He reacted by continually criticizing the promotion examination, pointing out that it is not actually a true measure of the skills an individual needs in order to be an effective supervisor. Over the last two years, he has slowly but surely become disgruntled with the police department’s management. He criticizes many of the department’s policies and constantly questions the promotional process.

He has begun to function at a minimum level and only does what is necessary to keep out of trouble. He arrives late for roll call but not late enough to be disciplined. He takes coffee and meal breaks exceeding the time set forth by departmental policy. His general negative attitude is rubbing off on younger officers, and some of the older officers refuse to work with him. During this same time, he has become very active in the local police union, and he uses his membership as a platform for criticizing department management. He constantly finds fault with every immediate supervisor, saying that they are exceedingly strict and refuse to give officers the freedom needed to perform effectively. Officer Powell is increasingly viewed as a thorn in management’s side and a real problem employee.

His immediate supervisor has become stricter in her supervision and is documenting the times he is late for roll call or takes too much time for meal and coffee breaks. Every arrest Officer Powell makes is reviewed with careful scrutiny, and the reports he prepares are rejected with increasing frequency. Officer Powell filed a grievance against his immediate supervisor, charging that he has been singled out for punishment because he is active in the police union. If you were Officer Powell’s supervisor, how would you deal with him? Is there something in Officer Powell’s conduct that suggests he has a personality problem? If so, what is it? How should a manager work with an employee who is constantly negative? Can something be done to change the negative traits that Officer Powell exhibits?

CASE STUDY

Lieutenant Philip Mulhall

Philip Mulhall has been a member of the Continental Police Department for eight years. He is currently assigned to the chief’s office and is responsible for supervising the investigation of com-plaints against sworn personnel. He has been a lieutenant for two years, having assumed his current position after serving as a watch commander in the patrol division. Lt. Mulhall graduated from the local university where he majored in public administration. Within the department, there are a number of officers and supervisors who feel Mulhall achieved his current rank because of his skill at manipulating people and his total disregard for the feelings of others.

Lt. Mulhall is viewed as someone who clawed his way to the top in a relatively short period of time, and the general consensus is that he is power hungry, using deceit without any thought of the moral consequences. He is very pragmatic in his approach to decision-making and goes out of his way to meet the needs and demands of the executive staff whenever he can. Many officers feel he is preparing for an early promotion to captain.

Mulhall goes by the book and is a stickler for the application of each and every rule or regulation. He may be described as a real micromanager that is totally devoted to maintaining his control and the organizational status quo. Whatever comes down from the top is viewed as gospel and is never questioned. There is considerable anxiety about whether Mulhall will use his new position in such a way as to ensure his next promotion.

Mulhall is aware of how he is viewed by some of the members of the department. He says he believes some of it is sour grapes, but he is still concerned about the potential negative influence on his career.