Promotional Process - Interview Flashcards
STRACCL
Supervise – on the road, hands on, observe with your own eyes
Training – before and after – debrief incidents
Reward, discipline, document (good and bad)
Accountability – hold yourself and your officers accountable for their actions
Communicate – up (S/Sgt) down (PC’s) and across (fellow sgts)
Core Values, Mission Statement
Lead by example
Public Trust
Notes:
Make sure all your answers contain some component of each of these. Avoid ‘buzz words’ if you can, but still get spirit of the buzz words across. Don’t feel the need to recite all the core values, but throw a couple of relevant ones in each answer if you can (see examples).
These are by no means all of the points, just the major ones. Add your own as you see fit. Some people have added Public Trust, etc….
BUDGET
HOW WILL YOU HELP TO MANAGE THE BUDGET AS A NEWLY PROMOTED SUPERVISOR?
Some things I know about our budget situation…
I am aware that salaries and benefits make up almost 9 out of every 10 dollars in our budget, which in 2006 was over 750 million dollars.
The four premium pay accounts are overtime, court, lieu time and callbacks.
The Service has already identified that effective methods of controlling these cost are spot checking courts for abuses of court pay, which represents over half of the premium pay. The regular monitoring of lunch hours not taken is also a source of lieu time accumulation, which is available for payout regularly throughout the year.
Premium pay must be authorized by a supervisor according to Service rules, so I am the ‘gatekeeper’ in this regard, and accountable for my officers’ premium pay, or lack thereof.
BUDGET
How I will assist:
EDUCATE
I will ensure that my officers are aware of the relevant portions of the Collective Agreement, rules and procedures. I will communicate clearly to my officers the need to be fiscally responsible. I will clearly communicate to my officers that lunch will be taken in all cases, except in emergent situations, and only when approved by myself or another sergeant. I will ensure that my officers know that I will hold them accountable for missed lunch hours and excesses in overtime and court.
First of all, I will educate myself on the fiscal realities that the entire organization is facing, and how they affect my division.
BUDGET
LEAD BY EXAMPLE - how?
I will lead by example and be fiscally responsible in my personal usage of premium pay. I will do this by maintaining my own level of training and education in the skills required for my job. By doing this I will be able to conduct my duties more efficiently, and in less time, reducing overtime.
I will take my own scheduled lunch hour, whenever operationally possible. I will only take overtime and miss my lunch hour when emergent situations arise. When I do accumulate lieu time, I will endeavour to take time off instead of a cash payment. I will reinforce this behaviour, formally and informally with my officers. This clearly demonstrates the core values of Teamwork, Honesty and Integrity. It also demonstrates loyalty to the Chief, as ultimately he is responsible for justifying our overages to City officials.
BUDGET
COMMUNICATE
I will ensure that my officers are aware of the relevant portions of the Collective Agreement, rules and procedures. I will communicate clearly to my officers the need to be fiscally responsible. I will clearly communicate to my officers that lunch will be taken in all cases, except in emergent situations, and only when approved by myself or another sergeant. I will ensure that my officers know that I will hold them accountable for missed lunch hours and excesses in overtime and court.
BUDGET
SUPERVISE
I will learn who the high earners are on my platoon and analyse their work habits for patterns, to ensure there are no abuses of the standards. I will confront and correct those who I find to have habitual missed lunch hours or overtime.
I will SUPERVISE my officers at all times, on the road, and know the purpose for all premium pay, and only authorize those situations that are appropriate and unavoidable. I will keep my Staff Sergeant up to date with these reasons. I will regularly use available systems, such as TRMS, the UCMR, Executive Dashboard and Stat Com, to monitor premium pay accounts.
I will also be open with the fact that I am going to closely monitor both of these issues on a regular basis and confront those who are abusing the situation. If the behaviours constitute misconduct I will commence and investigation and initiate the discipline process.
I will attend court and spot check my officers to ensure that they are required for court and that once their presence is no longer required, they cease collecting premium pay.
When requested, I will endeavor to grant time off whenever it is operationally responsible.
I will attend the CIB and ensure that officers are not lingering and that they return to active duty as soon as possible.
I will assign foot patrols where possible, to eliminate the consumption of gas in the scout cars.
I will hold my officers accountable for treating the Service’s equipment, including the scout cars, with respect. I will encourage safe driving and educate my officers on the Guaranteed Arrival program
BUDGET
WELLNESS
HEALTH
According to the recent study, 75% of all officers exhibit health risk factors that will make them less productive when they are at work and 200-300% more expensive in the future for health care and medication. These officers are also 50% more likely to miss work for illness. I will encourage officers to maintain their health and fitness and provide training on these matters. This will ensure that we maintain staffing levels, which manages risk in terms of officer safety and the providing of policing services to the community as well as managing the risk for long term health care expenses that we will incur.
I will communicate to my officers that the public trust is related to our ability as an organization to maintain a budget. We are public servants and are accountable to the City of Toronto. Failure to do this is a threat to public trust and must avoided wherever possible.
Budget control is an effective form of risk management.
I will empower my officers to seek creative areas of their duties that could be improved to be more cost effective and efficient. I will reward those officers who show fiscal awareness and responsibility by publicly praising them and allowing for non-monetary rewards such as recommendations for Unit Commander’s awards, lateral transfers or training opportunities.
I will ask my fellow supervisors and Staff Sergeants about successful methods of curbing the premium pay. I will communicate my efforts and results to my Staff Sergeant and Unit Commander. I will document all of my actions, and those I observe, in these matters.
