For many, many years, I supervised patrol shifts with no policy on when to call a police manager at home and notify them of something that had happened on campus. (After hours and on weekends, when no managers were on duty). It was left to our discretion and for the most part, notifications got made. Finally, a policy came out that was vague but provided some general direction and it seemed okay. But then an officer reported to me on a Sunday, at 5 PM, that she had lost her department ID and her card access key (which opens the entire campus) a couple of days before. We checked to make sure that the card access key had not been used and that it had been deactivated and we sent out the appropriate notice to other agencies about the lost ID. I figured that could wait fourteen hours, until Monday morning at 7 AM when the managers would come in, as nothing was going to change and there was no threat out there. Nope. I got chewed out for not making an appropriate notification to management.
Okay. Mea Culpa. A week later, officers on my team responded out to a call of two intoxicated males, walking through one of the residence halls, talking to girls in their rooms (because their doors were open) and in the hallways and common areas. The men were gone by the time we arrived, but we collected video from the security cameras, took a report, and determined that no actual crime had been committed. We weren’t even certain that a policy violation had taken place. No crime, no detentions, no follow-up available, seemed like a routine occurrence, especially on the weekends when parties start happening in the off-campus housing. Nope. I got chewed out for not recognizing the serious implications of the incident. I should have called a manager at 1:00 AM to make sure they were aware of drunk students in the dorms.
Finally, several days after that, I was called into the Lieutenant’s office to get chewed out for not making a notification for an incident that was so routine, that I don’t even remember what it was. When I got chewed out, my reaction was…well, flummoxed was the best word that I can come up with. And this time, the Lieutenant said that if I got called in again for not making an appropriate notification, he would have to “write me up.” Meaning that I would get a letter of reprimand. Now, I had never in my career, received a letter of reprimand. Sure, my file had room for it, but if I was going to get a letter of reprimand, I wanted to at least enjoy it. Geez.
So I apologized, and I changed my mindset. I began to think in terms of, “What could my managers think is notification worthy? What might induce further administrative questions or increased liability?”
My officers in foot pursuit of a suspect with a warrant, at an elementary school, more than a mile from campus? Sure. Notification.
Put an angry suspect in the WRAP? (A device used to secure a suspect so that they can’t fight and won’t die of positional asphyxia). Notification. (AND Use of Force form).
A student in the dorms held for a mental health hold after threatening to jump to their death? Notification.
A very public and very loud arrest of a homeless person in the Library for exposing himself? Notification.
And so many more.
Finally, my Lieutenant called me into his office. “Wes, have I said something to you that has made you start calling in all these notifications?” He seemed truly confused and concerned and unsure why I was making all these after hours and weekend phone calls.
“Yes,” I said, honestly shocked at his memory loss. “You said that if I missed another notification, you were going to write me up.”
He was equally shocked and I don’t think he even remembered telling me that. But it caused him to retreat and regroup. He tried to say that none of the things that I had called in required a notification. I responded that neither had the things I had gotten chewed out for. Our conversation stopped there. He clearly had no idea how to move forward from there.
About a week later, a newer notification policy came out that specified when to call managers after hours, and none of the things that I had been chewed out for would have qualified. I felt vindicated, and even though I hadn’t been trying to be an asshole, I knew that I had been an asshole. I had been waking up the Lieutenant for things that I believed were not notification worthy.
But really, how could I be sure what his bosses thought?