Common Sense Police Supervision Flashcards
The police supervisors code of ethics revolves around being
Loyal
Loyalty requires that the supervisor place enough faith in his own superiors to grant that in absence of _________ they are probably well intended in the course of action they have selected
Overwhelming evidence to the contrary
If a supervisor disagrees with a proposed course of action loyalty commands that he question the directive (2)
At the right time and in the right way
A Sgt. receiving directive to order his men to shoot on site an obviously unarmed offender should
Challenge the order. To do less would be to share in criminal comic
If a sergeant disagrees with a commander decision to use a police traffic car on the all night shift, these thoughtful Sgt. might:
Offer a logical list of reasons why the decision is not one he agrees with
When a supervisor relays information to their boss what should the primary concern be?
Accuracy
A less than honest attitude on the part of their supervisor may bring about long-term bad feelings and an immediate loss of ______
Respect
One of the supervisors most vital functions is
Evaluation and review
Inconsistency leads to
Chaos
A good supervisor will actively search for their own weaknesses and shortcomings by asking the opinions of
Peers, superiors and even officers they supervise
The socially responsible police supervisor is _______about his strengths, but he is willing to examine the possibility of problems in his performance too
Self-confident
The law-enforcement supervisor must adhere to his own
Code of ethics
The police supervisor demonstrates ______ to his agency and its leaders
Loyalty
The _______ an important task of the police leader
Suppression of rumors
The leader owes his loyalty to his subordinates and his responsible for their
Welfare
The law enforcement leader has obligations to himself and assures that he remains _______, _______ and ______healthy
Physically
Emotionally
Morally
The law-enforcement leader is aware of his obligation to serve his community in a _______ and _____ fashion
Moral and ethical
Bond viewed as a two-way street and contract by many
Trust
Bond viewed as a two-way street and contract by many
Trust
What are among the most important traits that a law-enforcement leader con demonstrate?
Integrity and personal courage
What two things are highly destructive to a leaders effectiveness
Frequent displays of temper and playing favorites
The subordinates of a strong and effective leader are more likely to display:
High morale
The word discipline is often used interchangeably with the word
Punish
To a great degree discipline involves an attitude and a feeling for (3)
The job, the agency, fellow employees
______ as it pertains to Police work might be defined as training and preparation that helped develop self-control sound character, and job efficiency
Discipline
A ______ police officer does a job properly because he knows that it’s the right thing to do not because he’s fearful or being punished for failure to perform
Disciplined
In an instance of intentional or negligent misbehavior, correction and/or punishment will be invoked for the good of the (2)
Employee and agency
A sleeping patrolman, drunk patrolman, and officer that pistol whips someone all share in common that they require
Each demand supervisory attention with a potential for corrective action
Once an employee is promoted to a supervisor rank and is part of the leadership structure, the supervisor must be concerned for the agencies ______, the public’s ______ and the employees ______
Agency’s interest
Public’s concerns
Employees welfare
If an officer excitedly tells the supervisor that he hit an arrestee in the head with his gun, the supervisor needs to take corrective action. Can the supervisor act alone or does he need to put up a chain?
He can act alone or with others
If an officer is found asleep on the job, a supervisor must calmly, quietly and carefully inquire into the potential problem. If it’s the officers first time dozing off, what is the appropriate action?
The sergeants attention in itself is probably enough
If an officer is found asleep on the job and then tells his supervisor that he is sick or there’s an illness at home, what is the appropriate action?
assigned to sickleave for the rest of the shift
If an officer is found asleep on the job and then tells his supervisor that he is quite sick, what is the appropriate action?
Officer should be taken home rather than allowed to drive himself
If an officer is found asleep on the job and the supervisor has reason to believe he is seriously ill, what is the appropriate action?
Emergency room
If an employee has a chronic habit of sleeping on the job, and disregards the supervisors previous suggestion to change sleep schedule, what is the next step?
Formal corrective action, such as a letter of reprimand or suspension without pay
If a line supervisor is to retain his authority and his reputation as one who can help, he must be able to recommend formal corrective actions to:
Higher authority
Corrective measures arbitrarily dictated from above can _______ of the first line supervisor
Destroy the effectiveness
Any corrective action in which the supervisors honest recommendations aren’t considered, the action will be less______
Effective
Any department policy that allows the first line supervisor to shrug and point upstairs as a source of any corrective measure, detracts from that supervisors faith in ______
Faith in his own ability and sense of personal responsibility
If a supervisor shrugs things off in points upstairs as a source of corrective measure, what do his subordinates him as?
Impotent or helpless leader when really important issues are to be decided
_____, _____ and _____ can take no part in decisions regarding correction of personnel
Personal friendships, grudges, or prejudices
What is the consequence for a corrective response that is too harsh
Makes the employee bitter and destroys the morale of his coworkers
Too lenient of a corrective response creates the impression among officers and supervisors alike that
Improper conduct will be overlooked and tolerated
If corrective action is extreme, whether too harsh or too lenient, the overall discipline and effectiveness of _______ will suffer
The employees peers
If a supervisor accidentally makes a false accusation of an employee drinking on the job. What is the result?
It could ruin a working relationship forever
Alcoholism can be described as
The need for liquor early in the day
Alcoholism can be described as
The need for liquor early in the day
Before confronting an officer about drinking on the job, the supervisor needs sufficient information from his own _____
Observations
A ______ and _______ confrontation with an officer suspected of having an alcohol problem is the fairest and most humane approach to
Direct and private
How may an officer respond when initially confronted that they have an alcohol problem
Anger, denial, even personal insults aimed at supervisor
If an officer has a poor response to a supervisors initial confrontation of an alcohol problem what should the supervisor do?
Persist until need for help is recognized
A supervisor demonstrating _______ and ______may be all that is needed to convince a police employee to seek help with alcohol
Personal concern and involvement
An employees alcohol problem requires that he be treated with (2)
Understanding and compassion
Alcoholics have symptoms and side effects, which can be harmful to
Those around him
An employee intoxicated at work should be promptly
Removed from the workplace
Drug and alcohol addiction are viewed as medical matters and covered under the provisions of the
Americans with disabilities act
A persons drug or alcohol addiction, diagnosis, treatment, and recordkeeping are granted _____ status under ADA
Confidential
A good supervisor will consult with his organizations ______ department for assistance with a situation that appears to involve alcoholism or drug addiction
Human resources or personnel department specialist
If a supervisor suspects an employee is intoxicated and wants to confirm with a breath or blood test he should do first
Notify chain of command
Whether or not a breath or blood test is as ministered to an employee, the supervisor has additional obligations to assure that:
The incident is thoroughly documented and provisions made to get the employee safely home
If an officer uses excessive force, the supervisor must look at what when deciding what sort of corrective action to take
Training
History of use of force complaints
If officer is informed of policies and laws regarding use of force
Any other circumstances that existed in this instance
THIO
What corrective action for an officer that unintentionally used excessive force
Additional training in personal defensive tactics
An employee that used excessive force and has a record of the same, mandates a more punitive corrective action such as
Suspension without pay
Mandatory counseling
Fired
Criminal charges
In order to be effective, reward/punishment must be immediate enough for
The officer to connect his actions with the results
Corrective action should be swift otherwise the supervisor might
Find it an unpleasant task and postpone it for as long as possible
Most of the time corrective action should be handled by
Primary supervisor and not sent up the chain of command
The _____ should know more about the employee than anyone in the chains higher reaches
Immediate supervisor
Removing _____ from the correction process is almost certain to lessen the likelihood that the corrective action chosen will be appropriate and fair
Immediate supervisor
The supervisors absence from direct invisible participation in the disciplinary process may diminish his _____ and ____ in the eyes of his subordinates
Stature and importance
Also will have less ability to direct and control the employee in the future
The wise leader will never act rashly on the basis of (3)
Rumor, gossip, hearsay
Once all the pertinent facts are available to supervisor, he should give his employee an opportunity to
Tell their side of the story
A good supervisor will develop and expand his ability to separate extenuating circumstances and justifiable deviations as things apart from (2)
Excuses and lies
Supervisor must avoid giving what impression before the employee has had a chance to tell their story
That the issue has already been decided
Can inquiry in correction be effective in a car or at coffee
Yes, if the two are alone
When discussing correction, the formality of the closed door office session can sometimes do
More harm than good
When should corrective action be taken if a prisoner is improperly searched
Immediately at the scene
If an officer tries to debate how a building search is to be conducted for a burglar, what should be done
The sergeants orders must be carried out without delay. Discussions and disagreements must wait until the volatile situation is secure. More thorough discussions later
In order to retain an employees ______ the supervisor should tell them why a correction could not safely wait for the privacy and polite approach
Respect
Corrective action, in order to be accepted as fair, must be consistent with
Corrective action that has gone on before
The sense of Fairplay demands that disciplinary action be consistent in both ____ and _____
Kind and severity
Identical or similar infractions, earn identical or similar penalties. This is referred to as
Comparative discipline
Police unions and other employee groups are often very sensitive to what type of discipline
Comparative discipline
Police union and employee groups will object to corrective measures seen as:
Overly severe
Imposing more severe penalties for repeated improper action is known as
Progressive discipline
A supervisor who wants to promote consistency in discipline, can rely on the experiences and recollections of
Fellow supervisors who have handled similar situations in the past
If a supervisor doesn’t have access to a fellow supervisors experience regarding disciplinary reaction, where can they look for the same kind of information and insite?
Disciplinary memorandum
Personnel records
Transcripts of trial boards
Transcripts of formal disciplinary hearings
There should be a brief cooling off period between correcting an employees behavior and counseling them in order for it to be recognized as:
Fair
Time limit between correcting an employees behavior and counseling them
No set standard
What is the rule of thumb regarding a supervisors attitude before administrating corrective action to an employee
Supervisor must analyze their own emotions to ensure that they aren’t motivated by anger, revenge, or a desire to put down an employee
If a supervisor believes he is motivated by anger, revenge, or the desire to put an employee down. What should he do?
Postpone the counseling session until the feelings have dissipated
What should be done if a counseling session starts to turn into an argument
Stop the proceedings until later in the work shift or next day
To be effective, corrective action must be ______ to determine if it worked
Followed up
Follow up to corrective action requires a cooperation of
All agency supervisors
If one sergeant counsels an officer about late assignments, can a follow up evaluation be done by a different sergeant
Yes if officer changed supervisors in the intervening time period
If one sergeant counsels an officer about late assignments, can a follow up evaluation be done by a different sergeant
Yes
Should supervisory follow up action to detect a change in performance, be informal or formal
Either
Continuing to thoroughly monitor the effects of past corrective action is an important part of the _____ job
Supervisors
In order for corrective action to be most efficient it must be
Documented
Documenting corrective action helps to assure:
Fairness
What type of record to keep on corrective action depends on (2)
What the agency dictates
The seriousness of the infraction
A relatively minor employee problem may be documented in a brief entry in the
Employees log
A more serious problem that results in a suspension without pay mandates a written account of the whole incident in the employees:
permanent personnel file
If there is a disagreement among police supervisors whether an action should be written or handled verbally, the supervisor should decide to record the incident if it is ______ and ______
Serious or repeated
If a continuing or worsening problem is indicated, even though it started as a relatively minor one, should it be recorded in a written form or handled verbally?
Recorded
________ becomes invaluable if later questions arise as to whether the employee has been warned or canceled
Written records
Written records are helpful for later questions about an employee being warned. They are also helpful in their ability to
Inform future supervisors of the employees pass trends, and performance
Effective disciplinary action must be recognized as fair and proper by:
The person receiving it
The hardest part of effective disciplinary action is often:
Getting the involved person to see it as fair and proper
If an employee truly believes that they have been mistreated by the system or its agents, the supervisor should avoid:
Trying to sell the corrective action to the employee
If an employee truly believes that they were mistreated by the dictionary process, a supervisor can explain (3) to the employee
- Reason behind it
- It’s in line with what has gone before
- It was aimed at changing the employees conduct not the employee themselves
If an employee apparently understands what is being said, but just does not agree with their disciplinary action, the supervisor should
Do nothing else at the moment
To prevent being embarrassingly overruled by a superior, supervisors should discuss an unusual disciplinary situation with ______ before attempting it
Superiors
It can be helpful to have a proposed corrective action reviewed by
Fellow supervisors
A supervisor will know when formal action is needed, and when informal action will suffice by knowing:
How a subordinate will react to correction
_________ will prepare the supervisor for the reaction to expect from an employee regarding a corrective matter
Knowing the employee to the fullest extent possible
If possible, corrective counseling sessions should end on a:
Positive note
If counseling an officer about poor spelling and grammar, the supervisor can also complement him for his thoroughness. When presented in a relaxed and informal manner, this type of correction won’t sound (2)
False or contrived
The supervisor who has mastered the skill of displaying _______, _______ and ______ does not have to tell his people that he is the boss because it already shows in his mannerisms
Self-composure
Self-assuredness
Command presence
To be respected by others, the supervisor must first respect:
Himself
The leader who is secure and comfortable with ________ will be secured and comfortable when working with and leading others
Himself
Should a supervisor discourage an employee from discussing corrective action if the subordinate indicates he strongly disagrees with it
No
As long as people are ______ a chance remains that they will reach agreement
Talking
The primary supervisor must be intimately and realistically ______ in the whole disciplinary process
Involved
What reduces the likelihood that corrective action will be fair, appropriate and effective
Eliminating the supervisor from the process
Ignoring a supervisor‘s personal knowledge of an employee, in favor of correction or punishment handed down from above, hurts who (3)
Employee, supervisor, and agency
Having the primary supervisor thoroughly involved in a correctional process accomplishes what (4):
- Correction personalized for the employee
- Correction is appropriate.
- Correction is timely.
- Participation and correction strengthens the supervisor
Correction is dispensed most often by the:
Primary supervisor
“_______“ can be eliminated from disciplinary action that supervisor is involved
Overkill
Heavy emphasis upon the first line supervisors ______ can drastically reduce the time needed to decide a course of action
Fact, based recommendations
The primary supervisor is more effective on a ________ basis when his subordinates know the organization sees him as a vital member of the leadership whose opinions and recommendations are worth hearing
Day to day basis
The subordinates are shown the supervisors _______ when his recommendations on corrective actions are valued and an active
Importance (and hereby value to them)
Subordinates who recognize their supervisors ______ are more likely to listen to the supervisors requests, warnings, and guidance in the future
Importance
Supervisor must make sure that any disciplinary action he takes is done ________ and according to existing department procedures
By the book
A supervisor should make sure that the employees rights to ________are protected and explained to them in detail
Hearing or grievance process
Can union contracts and CivilService regulations impact what a supervisor can and cannot do
Yes
It is the responsibility of ______ to guarantee that a supervisor meets his obligations through fairness, intelligence, job skills, and common sense
The supervisor himself
There are both _____ and _____forms of discipline
Positive and negative
_________ is the highest level discipline
Self-discipline
Disciplinary action must be appropriate for the _______ involved
Infraction
The ADA does not restrain a supervisor from disciplining an employee who is:
Under the influence
________ assures that different employees involved in similar misbehavior are corrected in a similar fashion
Comparative discipline
Progressive discipline assures that discipline increases in severity for:
Repeat incidents of misconduct
Efficient discipline is (7)
Timely
Fair
Not angry
Private
Consistent
Followed up
Documented
Appropriate discipline always requires the participation of
First line supervisor
Building _____, requiring ______, communicating ______, and giving ______ are the basic building blocks of effective leadership
Trust, accountability, clearly, recogition
Your ______ and ______ make it impossible for you to be at carbon copy of other leaders
Life experiences and personality
When leader is find that “being yourself” does not seem to be working. It is often because they have allowed themselves to
Slide an extreme end of the leadership spectrum
The leadership spectrum is from _______ to ______
Conflict avoidance to command & control
Is conflict avoidance a problem limited to new supervisors
No
Conflict avoidance is a problem of any supervisor who dislikes or avoids conflict so often that:
Their ability to do their job is negatively impacted
Supervisors that consider themselves people focused or a friend of their employees may be:
Conflict avoidant
Conflict avoidant supervisors are sometimes so concerned with what others think of them that they do not effectively:
Perform their duties
Conflict avoidant supervisors are sometimes so concerned with what others think of them that they do not effectively:
Perform their duties
____________ supervisors worry excessively about being accused of nitpicking, upsetting employees, and with being liked by everyone
Conflict avoidant
Leaders who operate at the _________ end of the leadership spectrum often see themselves as traditional leaders
Command and control
Leaders on the _______ end of the leadership spectrum can be demanding, hard workers, or workaholics, whose focus is to get results at all cost
Command and control
Conflict avoidance is one of the most common problems experienced by supervisors today, it affects employee ______ and ______
Morale and motivation
What is one of the most common problems experienced by supervisors today?
Conflict avoidance
What is the most significant problem encountered by supervisors operating at the extreme ends of the leadership spectrum
The perceptions held by their employees
Perceptions that employees have about conflict avoidance supervisors are that they often _______ to avoid conflict
Ignore problems
Reliable employees, watch and become ______ as problem employees test the limit of what a conflict avoidance supervisor will allow
Frustrated
Some people believe that these type of supervisors are only concerned with being liked
Conflict avoidant
Employees may perceive a supervisor who tries to improve their likability by complaining about the organization as someone who
Does not care about their organization
Effective supervisors are committed to:
Their organization
Occasionally conflict avoidant supervisors join in with their complaining employees to talk about
Perceived injustices
Advocates listen to their subordinates and try to
Correct legitimate problems
Advocates do not complain with subordinates about treatment of supervisors or organization, especially when it occurs for the purpose of:
Improving likability
If you talk negatively about your supervisors to your subordinates, you have given your subordinates permission to:
Talk about you when you’re not present
Talking negatively about your supervisors to your subordinates will contribute to the subordinates declining _____ and loss of _____ and ____ for you
Declining morale
Loss of trust and respect
The employee perception of ______ supervisors is that they are demeaning, sarcastic, and condescending
Command and control
Employees believe that these type of supervisors use derogatory humor
Command and control
What type of supervisor can come across like a bully
Command and control
What type of supervisor micromanages and is overbearing?
Command and control
Supervisors and subordinates alike should understand that knowledge and skill development is something that happens:
Throughout a career
A supervisor who utilizes a subordinates full potential helps raise the ______ and _____ of that employee
Self-esteem and job satisfaction
_______ type of supervisors can come across as aloof, stuck up or disinterested in their subordinates
Command and control
Showing that you care about _________ is critical to your success as a supervisor
The well-being of your employees
Should leaders operate in the middle of the leadership spectrum to be effective
No, they can operate a little to the left or the right
The large gray area on the leadership spectrum stands for
Authentic leadership
Authentic leadership means being true to _______, working within your comfort zone, and having the ability to adjust outside of your comfort zone one situation requires
True to yourself
Authentic leaders want their employees to perceive them as committed to:
Their organization
Authentic leaders generate an employee perception that they care about their employees as:
Individuals
Sometimes employees have ideas or concerns that should be addressed, but occasionally they just want supervisor to:
Listen
Authentic leaders recognize exemplary work as well as employee _______ that they like, appreciate, and want to see repeated
Behavior
What gets recognized, gets _______
Repeated
Does accountability benefit good employees, or problem employees more
Good employees because it demonstrates that they’re supervisor cares enough to pay attention
What are the two ingredients necessary to make up rumors?
Lack of reliable information and a strong, personal interest
What are the basic elements for good communication? (Message(2), communication(3), approach (2)
Message (clear and simple)
Communication (2 way flow, good listening/reading habits, openness)
Approach (calm approach, good timing)
If information in the message is lengthy and/or complicated it’s generally best to
Put it in writing
After explaining a complex procedure or operation, what should a supervisor do to maximize good two-way communication
Ask questions
If face-to-face contact is not an option what is the second best alternative to communication?
Written
What are the hazards to good communication? (5) (PBLED)
Prejudice
Bad attitude
Language
Emotions
Distractions
Prejudices may cause a speaker to ______ to the audience
Talk down
