Ever turned in your boss?

[ArkansasFan24]

Out of curiosity, has anyone ever confronted, arrested, turned in, or made any other such action against their superiors for criminal acts and/or policy violations?

Just curious.

How'd things work out for you afterwards?

I realize that's a difficult situation to talk about, but I'd like to hear about the aftermath.

[ArkansasFan24]

LOL. Fun!

[ddurkof]

Yes I have. Back before it was fashionable to file sexual harassment suits I had one of my female officers come to me when the chief forced his affections on her. It was a simple assault and she wanted to file charges. It was not a comfortable time. End result was the city covered for the chief and it was hell for a couple of years. Did I do the "right" thing? Yes, I did. I would probably do it again, but I would never recommend someone else doing it, unless they have totally thought it through. Now if the chief was selling dope or some other big time felony, of course you have to take action. Small stuff, you might as well as look for a new job now.

[LT Dangle]

Unemployment.

Ditto. Some times you have to stand for something or you will fall for anything. The hard right has gotten me into more hot water in life then the easy wrong. I rest easy at night knowing I made the right decision when others have not, would not or could not. Has it come at a price? Yes.

[oneoldcop]

about 10 years ago we (some at the dept.) went to he11 and back with the FORMER chief, I was the guy that took most of the heat though...the good ? thing though, I wound up being appointed to chief later that year...

[catcop]

It depends. You are on patrol and see a car sneak a stop sign. It's the chief. You better not write him.

You answer a disturbance and it's your chief and his wife and she is accusing him of dv. You better call a different agency and stay under the radar until the stuff settles out.

[hemicop]

Twice. Even provided dates,times, witnesses, copies of falsified reports & showed it wasn't just one incident but the guy was just bad no matter how you looked at him and the Dept. still refused to investigate him. The second time I was told I was old enough to retire & to get the f@#k out of the Dept!!! Needless to say I retired kinda bitter about Management............

[Kieth M.]

This response, to a question about fellow employees snitching their way to the top, is reprinted:

One morning, many years ago, I'm assigned to training session (Gays & Lesbians in the workplace), held at Parker Center, LAPD headquarters. Just my luck, most all my fellow session attendees work Internal Affairs. Oh, gosh, Commander CC (CCC) is there, too. A guy I've never cared for. So I'm sitting there getting trained with all the kool-aid drinkers and I see CCC is venturing off track, checking out his new department-issue laptop.

Soon after he's waded through some departmental correspondence, a strange image pops up on his laptop screen. Within a few minutes, it comes into focus. It's a nude woman. Of course, she's got her arms placed to conceal the naughty-bits, but nonetheless, she's nude. She's nude, that's a department computer, and hello, we're in the workplace. There's a guy next to me, IAD Sgt. BW, and we look at each other with that, "WTF?" look. Seated next to CCC is a Lt. MS. and another Sgt. MS, both from IAD.

I finish the training and go back to my office in Chinatown. I tell my fellow unit members what happened. We all can't believe that a guy who writes the rules has that crap on his laptop. One of the women in my unit is incensed, particulary because when he was in her chain of command he put her on the beach for a week, because she had a playful/sexy (but fully-clothed) portait on her desk. So this is hypocracy, running rampant.

I tell the unit I'm going to complain, because it's wrong for him to do. But I'll only do it with their blessing, as we're a small and some might consider disposable unit. The unit OIC says to me, "you have to, anyway, maybe it's a test." So I call IAD and make the complaint.

The next day, I'm interviewed. One of the IA sergeants asks his questions like he's CCC's employee/defense representative, the other listens and concurs that misconduct appears to have occurred.

Some weeks later, I'm called down to IA HQ, where another guy shows me a printed out image which was the woman...it's Cindy Crawford. Yes, she is nude, but as I said, her naughty bits are covered. I identify the image. I am also asked to sign the, "I understand I am subect to discipline and/or civil penalty if I've lied" form. The IA guy tells me that CCC turned over the image, he'd loaded it on the laptop testing it out, and yadda-yadda-yadda. But, I'm told, no one else in the room saw the image on the screen. Not IAD Sgt. BW, not IAD Lt. MS, or IAD Sgt. MS, just me, Kieth M., alone.

Weeks after that, the new Deputy Chief promotional list comes out. Yes, you gessed it...Commander CC is No. ONE on the list. However, right off the bat, they promote No. two on the list over CCC. But never fear, the discipline process is fair and CCC becomes Deputy Chief CC in due time.

Some time later, Sgt. MS tells me, "Gosh, Kieth, even though I was sitting right next to CC, I never saw that image on his screen!" The moment I left his company I rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah, shuuuuurrrrrrr!"

Yes, it works out for everyone. In fact, everyone at training that morning eventually got promoted. Sgt. BW is now Lt. BW. Lt. MS recently retired as Capt. MS., and Sgt. MS. is Lt. MS. Even Dep. Chief CC retired and got to be Chief CC of a Northern California agency. He has since retired from there and I've heard that they are very glad he's gone. He tried to recreate a mini-LAPD in his new setting, and it doesn't work outside L.A.! Sometimes, it doesn't even work in L.A. for that matter.

Wait, did I say everyone got promoted? Later, Capt. MS sat on my one and only lieutenant oral. I came out No. 178 on the list. I remained a minimum-wage sergeant to the end of my career. I was soon, the only one at that disposable unit, whose position was eliminated and sent back to patrol. Which, in a way, was just fine and dandy with me. I had spent enough of my time walking among the "building people" and I see how they rolled. I'll take my chances on the street with the hoodlums, anyday. It's safer out there. People who work the building should wear both their ballistic vest panels on their back - for their fellow admin backstabber's knives.

And, now, the best of all possible news to me a thousand miles away from my old workplace. Lt. BW just came out in band number one of the newest LAPD's Captain's list, he'll be Capt. BW in short order.

So, IMO, some people actually work their way up by being "gutten klienen Duetschlanders."

[pulicords]

Kieth: If doing the "right thing" was easy, none of us would have entered this field. It's too bad so many coppers lose sight of that thought when personal advancement becomes part of the equation.

My story: Several years back I was assigned to a multi-agency taskforce. During the course of an investigation, I arrested a suspect on felony charges only to learn afterwards that his father was a police officer on the same department as my taskforce LT. As soon as this info was known, the Lt began to interfere with my investigation. His actions (orders) could have easily led to the accusation that my partner and I cut the suspect slack, compromised evidence and ignored witness/victim's complaints because of the "family connections."

Although the initial charges were serious felonies, we learned (after his dad posted bail) that the suspect was out on even more serious offenses (child abuse and torture) when we arrested him. He was alleged to have dunked an infant into scalding hot water, causing serious burns.

Although I never saw anything implicating the suspect's father with the son's criminal acts, the suspect had a very close friend who was a police officer for the same agency. Evidence was recovered that strongly implicated the friend, but our criminal investigation was stopped (by order of the Lt). Because of the interference, I went back to my dept and requested a transfer off of the task force. My Captain ordered me to tell him (in detail) why I wanted off and I did.

Long story, short: The SHTF and I was soon being interviewed by my COP, the task force captain and IA from the Lt's agency. I was "asked" to return to my detail and to "try to work things out with the Lt."

I returned and was threatened within minutes by the Lt. His agency began an IA investigation (on the suspect's friend) and I was ordered to cease the criminal investigation. The Lt started playing games with me, including denying my request for SWAT on a "high risk" warrant service on different case where I was the primary investigator. Although it met "SWAT" criteria (according to my immediate supervisor), the Lt said he wasn't going to approve my request and that I'd "be the first one in the door." (I went to my own dept, spoke with my Lt. there and SWAT was approved.)

Ultimately, the Lt retired early (in lieu of termination) due to an unconnected, sustained allegation of sexual harassment. The cop's son went to state prison on convictions on the child abuse case and my charges. The suspect's buddy (a police officer) was found guilty on administrative violations associated with my investigation more than two years later. IA never presented the case to prosecutors, even though I believed there was ample evidence for felony charges. After a six month suspension, the guy returned to work and was supposedly fired within a year for other "violations."

My partner and I put up with a lot during this time period, but ultimately that's what we got paid for, right? If this job was always fun, it wouldn't be called "work." The deputy district attorney we worked with on this case backed us. Our immediate supervisors (at our departments) backed us and so did most managers and coworkers. While stressful at the time, at least when it was all over, I was able to look at myself in the mirror and not feel ashamed. Life is good. Doing good in life makes it better.