Straight from my Oral...

[MesaHopeful]

I know it's kind of lame to ask a question like this, but I scored fairly high on my written exam, and NUKED the oral. The following is the question that I personally felt I did the worst on. I saw the interviewing officer mark '2' for it, (out of 5), and I honestly thought that was being generous.

"While preparing to leave the police academy and go home, you notice that one of your teachers, a sergeant, is filling up his private vehicle from the facilities reserves. What do you do?"

My (retarded) answer was

"uh... ... uh.... .. I would... uh... I would.. follow the protocol for the given situation.. but I'm .. .... not sure what that is... Report him to a superior I guess?"

In retrospect what I SHOULD HAVE SAID was

"I would approach him, and ask him what he was doing, and if he had permission to be doing it. I would get the details of the situation before passing any judgement, and even having done so, I would tell him that as long as it never happens again, I would not report it. There are enough people causing problems for the police, without them causing problems for each other"

What would YOU have said?

[10-31Mike]

Keep driving.

[L-1]

The point of the question is to determine if you would take a reasonable course of action.

Just because you see him taking gas from the pump doesn't mean he is stealing. There are circumstances under which some agencies allow their personnel to fill their tanks from the department pump (including one department I used to work for). At the same time, approaching him and asking what he was doing and whether he had permission to do it poses another problem. Sergeants do not answer to academy cadets. What if he tells you it's none of your business?

Assuming you believed he was in fact stealing, telling him you would not report it as long as it never happens again is even worse. We don't tolerate thieves within our ranks and failure to report this type of misconduct is grounds for termination. You just failed the oral with that answer.

When you see suspicious conduct of this nature you simply note the date, time and location of the incident, the identities of those participating or present, what they were doing and why you think it is wrong (what law, rule or policy you believe was violated). Then you report it immediately to the department, usually to someone one rank higher than the highest ranking person involved. Someone higher up the food chain will then determine whether there was any misconduct or if this was simply a misperception on your part.

[MesaHopeful]

Dang. I never would have thought of anythin like that... and I'm really glad you told me about the instant failure that is not reporting it

Thanks L-1 !!

[10-31Mike]

The point of the question is to determine if you would take a reasonable course of action.

Just because you see him taking gas from the pump doesn't mean he is stealing. There are circumstances under which some agencies allow their personnel to fill their tanks from the department pump (including one department I used to work for). At the same time, approaching him and asking what he was doing and whether he had permission to do it poses another problem. Sergeants do not answer to academy cadets. What if he tells you it's none of your business?

Assuming you believed he was in fact stealing, telling him you would not report it as long as it never happens again is even worse. We don't tolerate thieves within our ranks and failure to report this type of misconduct is grounds for termination. You just failed the oral with that answer.

When you see suspicious conduct of this nature you simply note the date, time and location of the incident, the identities of those participating or present, what they were doing and why you think it is wrong (what law, rule or policy you believe was violated). Then you report it immediately to the department, usually to someone one rank higher than the highest ranking person involved. Someone higher up the food chain will then determine whether there was any misconduct or if this was simply a misperception on your part.

Thats what I meant.

Keep driving.

[MesaHopeful]

So.... Not to be a total noob, but

What do you do if you 'catch' a superior in the act? IE traffic stop, etc...? This is really an extension of the first question. I understand that the situationals they gave me were a) what do you do if your superior does X, and b) what do you do if your friend does x?

I did a good job on b... at least, the interviewer told me I did.

[L-1]

What do you do if you 'catch' a superior in the act? IE traffic stop, etc...? This is really an extension of the first question. I understand that the situationals they gave me were a) what do you do if your superior does X, and b) what do you do if your friend does x?

I assume you are talking about a traffic violation. In most cases the officer has complete discretion regarding whether to cite or warn so there really is no right or wrong answer. They just want to see if they can get you to back down once you take a position in response to their question.

If it's a minor violation (officer or friend) I would opt to warn. OTOH, if it is more serious such as a hit and run or DUI, I would notify a supervisor and depending on the circumstances, deal with it accordingly.

[Da Po-po]

I would have said, "Hey, how do I get your job?" J/K

[sgttom]

Keep driving.

agreed..................