08 Oct The Morale of Officer Smith Case Study

The Morale of Officer Smith Case Study

Is Officer Smith’s employee morale low? What are the signs and symptoms of low morale?

What can you do to improve Officer Smith’s morale?

Course Project

 Information:

• A promotional process for sergeants was recently completed and you were promoted to sergeant. • A promotional process for detectives was recently completed and nobody from Bravo District was chosen for an open detective position.

Scenario:

As a newly promoted patrol Sergeant you are assigned to Bravo District, the highest crime area of the county. There are 90 square miles and 87,000 people living in Bravo District and nearly all are below the poverty level. You have inherited a squad of 8 patrol officers who are all senior, veteran officers that have a reputation for not doing much during their shifts and being nothing more than report takers.

One of the officers on your squad is Jane Smith who is a veteran officer with 8 years of patrol service in Bravo District. Jane has never done anything else in law enforcement but after 8 years she is ready for a change and she wants to be a detective in one of the district property crimes units. Jane is upset because she was passed over and has to wait at least two years before she will get another shot at a detective position; she doesn’t understand why she was passed over and she wants some answers from you – her supervisor. You cheerily agree to meet with her and discuss her career goals but you tell her you need some time to pull some information and it will be about a week before you can sit down with her and talk – she is thankful and says she will wait for you to get back with her.

First you pull all of the stats for your squad and they look like this:

 Deputy Name Self Initiated Calls Reports Written Traffic Stops Tickets Written Warnings Written Notice to Appear Juvenile Arrests Adult Arrests Adams, Scott 50 43 75 75 0 1 10 20 Beltram, Diane 35 25 33 33 0 0 8 17 Charles, Don 48 41 47 47 0 3 7 13 Davis, Pat 47 40 25 25 0 1 6 12 Edwards, Jody 39 37 58 58 0 0 5 7 Smith, Jane 12 2 8 0 8 0 0 1 Tremaine, Bill 14 12 20 2 18 0 4 8 Uxley, Dean 18 16 40 5 35 0 2 10

You call the head of the department’s criminal investigations division to inquire as to Jane’s performance on the testing process for the detective position – you find out that she finished at the top of the list but still wasn’t chosen. You ask why and are told that her numbers were pulled and she is obviously lazy and disgruntled because she works in the busiest most active district and has very low activity – we can’t have disgruntled, low morale, lazy detectives.

You observe Officer Smith’s work for one week prior to meeting with her and you contact her previous supervisor and inquire as to his observations. You see and learn that she isn’t very active and it appears there are problems.

You call Officer Smith and arrange a meeting to discuss the problems with her.