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Police Supervisors: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly Police supervisors may not know if they’re good or bad at supervising. I was a police officer for 26 years. I worked for a department in a large metropolitan area. I’ve had good supervisors, and I’ve had bad supervisors. When the bad bosses don’t know they’re bad, that’s […] The post Police Supervisors-Crime Stories-Incompetence appeared first on Impartial Observer.

Summary

Police Supervisors: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
Police supervisors may not know if they’re good or bad at supervising. I was a police officer for 26 years. I worked for a department in a large metropolitan area. I’ve had good supervisors, and I’ve had bad supervisors. When the bad bosses don’t know they’re bad, that’s when the problems begin. I’ve been retired for some time, so some of what I say will no longer hold true. But then again, assholes are assholes.
Police Supervisors Have Common Sense Or No Sense At All
On my podcast, I talk about some supervisors I’ve worked for and worked with. The first boss I worked for, a captain,  knew absolutely nothing about police work.  He once told me to unhandcuff a person I had arrested for theft and highjacking. He said that the man was only the driver. After I told him that the FBI wanted to talk to the man, he started mumbling and asked me why the prisoner was not cuffed. Authority terrorized this man.
Shots Fired
Next, I talk about a very smart supervisor who didn’t have an ounce of common sense. About four o’clock one morning I responded to a call of possible shots fired. My partner was on a personal break, so I was alone. When I arrived at the location, a captain joined me.  (No, not that captain) As I approached the building, I saw a man standing in a window yelling obscenities. I also saw that he was naked. Not a good sign. Anyway, the man had hostages and started shooting at us. This went on for about three hours.

After members of the day shift had arrived, the man surrendered. Now along comes this supervisor, and he tells me to pick up shell casings for evidence. I asked if someone else could collect evidence as I had just spent the last three hours being shot at. He told me he had no one else. I just shook my head and walked away. He later asked me where was the evidence. I just shrugged my shoulders.


Where Are The Witnesses?
Several years later I was assigned to the detective bureau. My partner and I responded to a bank robbery in the past, ( No bad guys on the scene ) My favorite boss along with one of his protégées had taken control. I noticed there weren’t many people in the bank.  My partner asked if there were any witnesses and we were told there were but they didn’t see anything and they were allowed to leave. I guess he didn’t think there was anything to detect. He did, however, come to the bureau and ask “What did the witnesses tell you.” I smiled and said nothing.
One more Encounter With Stupidity
Late one night, patrol officers responded to a noise complaint. When they arrived at the scene they encountered five individuals in a van drinking alcohol. When the officers looked into the van they found several weapons. Some fully automatic. When questioned about who owned the van one of men said it belonged to his cousin but he couldn’t remember his name. It didn’t take long to figure out that something bad had happened to the owner. I was able to contact the owner’s wife. She told me that her husband didn’t come home from work and that she didn’t know any of the men we had in custody.
My favorite supervisor shows up and decides he’s going to run the investigation.  He then started ordering other detectives to interrogate my prisoners. Let me not go into a long explanation why this is not good. It creates confusion. This supervisor ordered me to contact the homicide unit. Of course, they wanted to know where was the body. And of course, we didn’t have one yet. We eventually found the body. Convictions and prison sentences all around.