Patrol & Detention - what is the biggest morale problem?

[Unregistered]

State the biggest morale problem affecting your division, department or bureau and any possible solutions you can think of. Maybe some of the higher brass will read this and take action. Or maybe the sheriff should know about it.

[Unregistered]

The less than gradual slide into this "hyper scrutiny" era we find ourselves in. Checks and balances are necessary, an absolute must....but this hyper scrutiny has too many on both sides of the house re-evaluating even minor decisions and supervisors hyper scrutinizing everything because they know they are hyper scrutinized from their superiors. Manacled by the media, scrutinization through social media snippets, attorneys and their "entitled" clients willing to sue as naturally as they breathe and the climate of the politically correct empire....I struggle to offer a solution grander than have confidence in your effort to always "Do the Right Thing" ....

[Unregistered]

For me its a little disconcerting that we will permit felonies to be committed and not pursue them due to the policy. I recognize the need to pull back on the reigns a little bit, given the green nature of the patrol bureau. I'm not here to debate the pursuit policy. My only point is that it bothers me that there is this massive influx of property crime, and the word is out that so long as you run you get away. We're told to be proactive and "check the neighborhoods" but you'll never catch them in progress, and if you do they'll just run. What's the point?

Meanwhile we are instructed to do burglary prevention and go into people's cars and leave pamphlets. The same areas get checked, and the same cars are always unlocked. In the morning its a wave of angry citizens calling and complaining, some even making veiled threats that end up with a BOLO attached to an address. Burglary rates remain the same. Never mind the fact that we are being instructed to commit what is, in essence, armed trespass.

I don't know what the answer is. People talk about how dangerous pursuits are, but what major incident prompted the policy change? What group of innocents were killed? There are members within patrol that i don't think need to have a blank check to chase whatever they want, but for the good level headed Deputies who can make adult decisions about what is worth chasing based upon their surroundings its become ridiculous.

Car 1 will go on television and say his deputies will rip someone out of the car who refuses to comply at a DUI checkpoint, but we wont chase felons when they run. We'll in essence break the law and sling pamphlets like girl-scouts, but if we catch them in the act we have to sit and watch them waive while they flee. They still crash, whether we chase them or not. Even good pursuits with violent forcible felonies are having Deputies call off the chase to cover their asses.

That being said I'll say it again, there are some idiots on the road. I get it. Treat people like individuals rather than using blanket methods to cover your ass...

That's the biggest thing i hear on the road among my peers.

[Unregistered]

KC's IAD findings were recently posted and are public record right now. Way to go embarrassing the agency, the detention bureau, the badge, and herself. At least Sgt. H. had a shred of common sense to resign but Gualtieri did not have the common sense to fire her. Others who committed lesser violations got slapped harder. Did they deserve it? Yes, in most cases. But KC should have been fired.

[Unregistered]

Proposed sergeant's test question: "Is it OK for married members of the command staff to have sex with other agency employees who are not their spouses?

This one should weed out a few people.

[Unregistered]

Proposed sergeant's test question: "Is it OK for married members of the command staff to have sex with other agency employees who are not their spouses?

This one should weed out a few people.

They need to ask the same question of command staff! TP wasn't the only one banging a subordinate.

[Unregistered]

KC's IAD findings were recently posted and are public record right now. Way to go embarrassing the agency, the detention bureau, the badge, and herself. At least Sgt. H. had a shred of common sense to resign but Gualtieri did not have the common sense to fire her. Others who committed lesser violations got slapped harder. Did they deserve it? Yes, in most cases. But KC should have been fired.

2 Levels 5's and 2 Level 3's.... No firing? Obviously, her connections in AID helped.

[Unregistered]

The simplest and tried and proven way to improve line staff morale is to significantly increase consumption of your favorite alcoholic beverages. Off duty of course and don't drink and drive because you might get a DUI (if you are not connected) and get fired. Those of you who are only sporadic social drinkers can learn a lot by hanging out with some of the younger deputies in bars and nightclubs or at home parties, evidenced by photos in their Facebook pages.

[Unregistered]

Things which have killed morale at the jail:

1. Micromanagement has reached ridiculous levels and everyone is too busy worrying about what someone else might think or do, or getting fired, rather than actually performing the job they are supposed to do.

2. Immature and inexperienced supervisors and command staff.

3. New hires, many whom are lazy and afraid of inmates. Yet they all want to go to patrol or get promoted fast. In a way they can't be blamed because even rookies can see the jail is self-destructing.

4. Sergeant's test which has been changed every year because it does a lousy job of selection.

[Unregistered]

One word answer to the morale problems: Bob