As a cop at your local PD, how would you feel if the following happened to you?

[Anonymous]

You're a police officer at your local police station. You notice a civilian worker of your command gets yelled at by her civilian boss in front of everyone for an error she made that she was spoken to several times prior. You, the officer step in and tell her civilian boss, "how dare you speak to her that way." Her boss tells you mind your business. But then you tell her off. As a result, this civilian boss goes and tells the operations coordinator, who then tells the executive officer, who then tells your Commanding Officer, and your Commanding Officer comes down and demands that you come forward. Next thing you know, this CO is coming down on you extremely hard humiliating you in front of everyone, yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs at you for being insubordinate and budding in to someone elses business, even though you were trying to defend this worker. As a cop, you go into the locker room crying. How would you handle being yelled at, if not abused and embarrassed by your CO? Would you still want to be a police officer after this?

Updates

+1 y

Also, the Commanding Officer is in your face when he or she yells and screams and shouts at you.

[BoopBoopBeep]

If someone yelling at you makes you cry you shouldn't be a cop anyway. Everybody isn't cut out for it. No shame in that.

You butted in where you shouldn't. You were reminded of your place in the hierarchy. "As a result, this civilian boss goes and tells the operations coordinator, who then tells the executive officer, who then tells your Commanding Officer, and your Commanding Officer"... so at least three people in your chain thought that you bumped your head.

Now I'm not condoning what the civilian leader did. It shows poor leadership. That's coming from someone who has held multiple leadership positions and badges in life. You could have just as easily gone the correct route and filed a complaint if you were so offended, but you had to be a hero and step in, so you get your hand smacked for it. There's a chain of command and a chain of responsibility for a reason. There are also multiple channels to make anonymous complaints. The course of action you took was the most immature of them and shows bad judgement. Honestly how did you think that would play out with your superiors? Don't answer that it was rhetorical.

[Asker]

Not only did I get my hand smacked for it. I was going to transfer to a precinct 20 minutes from my house. But because I got strongly disciplined, I got transferred to a precinct 3 hours from where I live.

[BoopBoopBeep]

What did your union rep say? 3 hours sounds retributive.

[Asker]

He outright refused to help me. They said they don't support people that deliberately disrespect their bosses.

[Asker]

Now I'm on my own in destress and destruction.

[Asker]

I've been wanting to change my union for several years, but I would first have to go without a union for a year before that change can happen. Now I'm stuck.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Well a year will go by fast if you keep your head down. I think you've learned the lesson, so, you know...

Does it suck? Yep. But it's only a year. "Only" yeah I getcha... but you're not deploying to a war zone and plenty of people have done that for longer, so if you really want this, suck it up and move forward stronger. Or decide you don't really want this, go do something else, and that's okay too.

[Asker]

Thanks 👍

[Asker]

The thing is, if I get fired along the way, I'm screwed because I don't have a union (strong enough) to save me. 'strong enough' is in parentheses for a reason.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Right... so keep your head down, mind your own business, and learn how to respect the chain of command.

[Asker]

The error by the way of the civilian worker is that she arbitrarily wrote in a cop's report to try to cover the officer for something. The Sargeant was cool with it, but her boss told her otherwise because crime analysis got on her boss about it. That's why she got in trouble, because she altered a state document without legal authorization.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Right and all of that is above your pay grade. At the very least it is not in your lane. If it was NOT being handled than you could report it to IG/Internal Affairs if there's some sort of corruption going on. If there's not, sit down, shut up, know your place, do your job.

[Asker]

Ty 👍

[ArrowheadSW]

The commanding officer would have been totally out of line for yelling at you in front of everyone, and also for "buying in" to what the civilian boss said without checking into it. It sounds like a mis-managed department in need of overhaul. Such BS.

[Asker]

It was checked in to. The knucklehead arbitrarily altered a cops written report, which got the civilian boss in trouble. She was told by a Sargeant several times never to alter state documents like that without permission or authority. BS? I think not, lol.

[Jessica405]

Tell him to fuck off and grow some manners. No one should be berated in front of their colleagues.

If they don't like being told to fuck off, I'd walk out right then. No one treats me like that, whoever they are.

[Jessica405]

Actually, the civilian should not have been berated in front of her colleagues, either.

[Jessica405]

I would not work for any organisation that pushed me into 3 hours travelling!

[Agape93]

I'd feel like this was some stupid dream. I mind my business, and I don't care who you are, you don't get in my face and start shit.

[Asker]

Tell that to bosses that let their badges become heroin.

[Agape93]

Like that concerns me. I don't play, I'll take a battery charge.

[Asker]

Would you also take a transfer to a precinct 3 hours from your house? As well as be denied a transfer to a precinct close to where you live? Also, would you take the fact that your union rep refuses to help you and you have to way 12 months to get a new union? Because all of this happened to me when I got reprimanded.

[Asker]

Plus, if you don't have a union, let alone if you have nobody to help you, and you get fired from this job, you may be screwed.

[Asker]

The error by the way of the civilian worker is that she arbitrarily wrote in a cop's report to try to cover the officer for something. The Sargeant was cool with it, but her boss told her otherwise because crime analysis got on her boss about it. That's why she got in trouble, because she altered a state document without legal authorization.

[Asker]

My union outright refused to help me because she doesn't support anybody that disrespects their subordinates.

[Asker]

Not subordinates but bosses.

[libsaretards]

If it is anything like military (police chain of command IS the same), then the officers and civilians have their own separate bosses and neither side interferes with the other. The officer would be wrong for stepping into the affairs of the civilian employees.

Most of the time in the military, only SENIOR enlisted (E7-E9) were in positions to be over civilians. If an E5-E6 noticed a civilian doing something wrong, they went to said E7-E9. They DID NOT directly deal with the civilian's issue.

It was the same way in Corrections. The lieutenants did not mess with the civilians. The civilians had their own bosses and the Lieutenants informed those bosses.

Long story short, it is not an officer's job to interfere with civilian employee matters.

[ShesRad80]

how would I have handled it, personally- I am italian so I grew up being yelled at, a lot, I laugh especially the louder the person gets, I once broke a drill team leader he yelled so much passed out. As I continued to laugh. You don't know yelling unless you grew up italian and If I decide to yell back, just run

[ArrowheadSW]

@shesrad80 I dated an Italian lady for 3 years... 'nuff said... LOL

[ShesRad80]

@ArrowheadSW 👍

[ArrowheadSW]

@shesrad80 Oh, and the lady next door is single and my age, and she is Italian. I hear her yelling out in front of her house every now and then... LOL

[ShesRad80]

@ArrowheadSW ahahahahhahahaa

[BeMuse]

Tough shit. Guess you learned the hard way that just because you are granted some authority in certain situations as a cop, that you're not king shit of fuck mountain and that you should stay out of people's business unless they are violating the law.

[WanderingLoveWizard]

Well, if someone is yelling in my face, all bets are off. I don't care if you're my boss or the President of the United States, you're gonna get it back ten fold.
(Crying in the locker room isn't an option lol)

[jshm2]

I would ask how the fuck such a poorly trained imbecile like you managed to become a cop. No wonder US cops have such a bad rep, you think you're living in the movies.

[Ben487]

If the civilian worker is under your command how do they also have this other boss? also why would your CO care if you reprimanded a civilian boss?

it doesn't make sense to me. I guess I would feel annoyed.

[AngryCarl2]

If I was a cop I'd arrest anyone who yelled at me. That's one reason why I'm not a cop.

[Asker]

You would arrest your Commanding Officer, even when your Commanding Officer is on duty?

[AngryCarl2]

Yes I'd slap the handcuffs on him and give him the spanking he clearly deserves.

[richardcory]

Was this the first time she had made the "error" or had she repeated it? If the latter, was this a last warning before she was to be fired? How bad was the error?

[Asker]

She revamped an officer's work without permission or authority to do so.

[Asker]

It was done 5 times or more.

[richardcory]

If this was a repeated offense, maybe her manager was trying one last time to make it clear how serious it was before firing her. He may not have been doing that well, but maybe he felt nothing was working

[Surely]

As a police officer. You can not make peace everywhere. As long as someone’s well being or life is not threatened. You need to look the other way at times!

[KrakenAttackin]

Your CO was correct in chewing your ass.