Fellow officer woes..

[madcat816]

So I'm workin on desk duty today when I get a lady requesting copy of her accident report. Nothing new..

I make a copy, get her essentials and send her on her way. She comes back to ask me how to explain it to her so I start reading it and the diagram and story didn't really make sense but I didn't write it, wasn't there and its not my report.

I explain that it says, she stated she went to make a turn and so on.. She then was very adamant that the story was incorrect. Normally I send people on their way b/c they're trying to get over. This instance what she explained may not have been so far fetched, so instead I told her she could try to amend it by speaking with the officer.

The lady agrees to come in later during his shift to try and speak with him which is entirely allowed if the cop wants to. Now I get a hold of him and she happens to have just gotten there. Explained the details, he peeks a look and remembers her.. I ask if she was a problem and he was like no but i don't wanna talk to her. I let him know she was there earlier and seems like a very determined individual.. Fellow officer then said let deal w/ accident unit.

Now what happens is, I'm in a situation where she knew what shift he worked b/c another cop overheard the first instance and was like yea yea come in and talk to him hes working tonight so I didn't have the option of omitting that detail. And now she shows up 2nd time, and somehow I'm suppose to tell her that he said to refer to the other unit but of course he "wasn't there"..

Well needless to say It didn't sit too well with her and now I'm taking the short end of the stick from her while trying to maintain composure. Sign out time was about 10 min past and my squad was out the door already.

Issue: Would it have been so hard for him to come over and speak with this lady so I didn't have to hear it, while trying to help him?

[Madball]

who cares? refer her to traffic, tell her the officer who took the report is unavailable, and move on.

[hemicop]

IMO, the originating officer should've dealy with it, and should have been told as much. Yes, you're not his supervisor, but you ARE on desk duty and ARE responsible for handling "walk-ins". I would've told the officer that, asked him if it was HIS wife/mother/girlfriend/sister how he'd feel if the officer didn't have the guts to deal with it & go from there. Essentially he was dodging a call & that REALLY ticks me off

[SgtCHP]

Any officer who errs on a report should take the responsibility to set things right. If the officer is reluctant to meet with the complaining party, it is easy to ask that a supervisor sit in and moderate.

I recommend she speak directly to a supervisor, write a supplemental addendum and submit it for clarification.

It might have been more advantageous if you had gone to a supervisor to begin with and forego the conflict with the citizen and the officer.

It is not your responsibility to address those issues. That is why they make sergeants.

[grog18b]

It is not your responsibility to address those issues. That is why they make sergeants.

Only info you need, right there.

If the reporting officer doesn't want to fix a mistake(assuming he made one), or talk to this lady to straighten things out, then the only other person that can help her is the supervisor.

[stormz5192]

We are fortunate enough to have a traffic statement form that they can fill out if they feel that the report is incorrect. That form gets attached to the original and forwarded to the commander of the traffic unit. If we fail to speak with a complainant, or at the very least have it handled by another officer, we are in deep excrement.

If the report did not make sense to begin with, it is sad that the supervisor checking reports did not catch it.

[madcat816]

All good points thanks, except the not caring because if my sister/family member is at a precinct one day, what goes around comes around..

Also I would have a supervisor take care of it but where i work its so ridiculously busy that you try to handle stuff and ask them unless absolutely necessary.

[Michigan]

Yea that's his responsiblity to take care of it, not yours. He should of told her to take it up with traffic, not you.

[jswwjw]

It is amazing how many complaints can be averted by "doing the right thing" or explaining to "whom-ever" what and why you did what you did. The RP did not sound like a "dirt-bag" and had a genuine concern. Have you tried dealing with an insurance company lately? I would not have attempted to correct or make excuses for the officer. I would have just referred it up the chain. And for "who cares", sorry, wrong attitude in my book. Just my thoughts. Be safe.

[PtlCop]

who cares? refer her to traffic, tell her the officer who took the report is unavailable, and move on.

I should hope most people, including you, in this profession would care if they made an error on a report, or a citizen had a question about one of your reports. Your dismissive attitude makes me wonder what type of officer you are. The officer who took the report was clearly available, but you would lie to her when she took time out of her day to come into the station not once, but twice to speak to him? I'm glad I don't work with you.

[Iowa #1603]

Also I would have a supervisor take care of it but where i work its so ridiculously busy that you try to handle stuff and ask them unless absolutely necessary.

As stated before--------------that is what sergeants( or Lieutenants & Captains) are for, and that is why they get paid the big bucks.

Sometimes you have to "impose" on their busy schedule in order to make the shift run smoothly. It is not your job as a peer to make excuses for another officer nor is it your job to "make" the other officer be a stand up guy.

Pass it on up the ladder.

[grog18b]

Sometimes you have to "impose" on their busy schedule in order to make the shift run smoothly. It is not your job as a peer to make excuses for another officer nor is it your job to "make" the other officer be a stand up guy.

Pass it on up the ladder.

Well said.

[janego10]

Wow. Here its considered a call if a complainant comes in to speak to us and we better take it or be in a heap of trouble. I've made mistakes on accident reports before and I go and correct them...just some wite out and a pen does the trick.

[madcat816]

As stated before--------------that is what sergeants( or Lieutenants & Captains) are for, and that is why they get paid the big bucks.

Sometimes you have to "impose" on their busy schedule in order to make the shift run smoothly. It is not your job as a peer to make excuses for another officer nor is it your job to "make" the other officer be a stand up guy.

Pass it on up the ladder.

Looking at it that way, very true..

On another note, I'm signing out earlier and there she is again a 3rd time, gettin the stiff arm. I guess its just another reason to be even more precise and methodical in my future reports and situations...

[IAO]

Also I would have a supervisor take care of it but where i work its so ridiculously busy that you try to handle stuff and ask them unless absolutely necessary.

I would think that no where is to busy to speak to a citizen, especially about a complaint. Customer service...

I would think this situation is absolutely necessary for a supervisor to step in.

[441A]

Looking at it that way, very true..

On another note, I'm signing out earlier and there she is again a 3rd time, gettin the stiff arm. I guess its just another reason to be even more precise and methodical in my future reports and situations...

Im sorry, but thats just B.S. Take it how you want it, but its things like this that make even decent people not appreciate the police as much as they should. 3 times, and a decent person cant even get someone to help her out? Come on, its not like he isnt being paid to be there. I probably would get on him at that point. And no, not directed at the OP, but the officer being spoken of.

[Madball]

I should hope most people, including you, in this profession would care if they made an error on a report, or a citizen had a question about one of your reports. Your dismissive attitude makes me wonder what type of officer you are. The officer who took the report was clearly available, but you would lie to her when she took time out of her day to come into the station not once, but twice to speak to him? I'm glad I don't work with you.

wow i guess you know for a fact that there was an error in the report and she wasnt some pain in the rear who had been badgering the officer because she didnt like what she read in his report, right? that's why i said REFER HER TO TRAFFIC. they can address any issues with the officer and make any necessary changes.

i wonder what kind of officer YOU are, to make a snap judgement that you wouldnt want to work with me based on my last post.

[PtlCop]

wow i guess you know for a fact that there was an error in the report and she wasnt some pain in the rear who had been badgering the officer because she didnt like what she read in his report, right? that's why i said REFER HER TO TRAFFIC. they can address any issues with the officer and make any necessary changes.

i wonder what kind of officer YOU are, to make a snap judgement that you wouldnt want to work with me based on my last post.

No, you said "who cares." If you don't care, then get a new job.

Then you said "tell her the officer is unavailable." So now you're advocating lying to her and saying the officer isn't available, when we have clearly been told that he was...he just didn't want to talk to her.

If you read the posts, you've been pretty well pointed out as having the total wrong attitude here. It's your dismissive attitude that generates a lot of the animosity we experience from the public.

[Jenners]

I'm confused. Was there a personality change? Is Madball and Madcat one and the same?

[t150vsuptpr]

All good points thanks, except the not caring because if my sister/family member is at a precinct one day, what goes around comes around..

Also I would have a supervisor take care of it but where i work its so ridiculously busy that you try to handle stuff and ask them unless absolutely necessary.

He should have talked with the lady, tried to explain, at least heard her out. His reaction, his reluctance to face her tells me maybe she was right. If your sister / other family member is someday there, whether they be right or wrong, you want them to be treated fairly, with respect, by a professional.

[PtlCop]

He should have talked with the lady, tried to explain, at least heard her out. His reaction, his reluctance to face her tells me maybe she was right. If your sister / other family member is someday there, whether they be right or wrong, you want them to be treated fairly, with respect, by a professional.

Precisely. You don't want them to have to deal with an officer with a 'who cares, stop bothering me" attitude. Or one who tell you that the reporting officer is "unavailable" when he's clearly not busy.

[ddurkof]

This is where an ounce of prevention prevent a pound of paperwork. The guy needs to man up and talk to her about per perception of the report. There are a couple of things going on: She is right, he is wrong; He is right an she is wrong.

But perception is reality and her reality is that she has an issue, right or wrong, and the police are not communicating the situation to her where she can understand. If she has been there three times in a shift she most likely is not going to be going away. Get her to a Sgt. ASAP so that he can determine if this report has errors that need to be corrected or have him explain to her why her perception is incorrect.

This is a great opportunity to impress the citizen with the quality of the department you work for. God knows all of the mistakes that I have made and the best thing it to address them square on, admit the mistake and correct it with no excuses.

[westside popo]

I would do the following:

1. Explain the information on the form.
2. If she feels the information is incorrect or the LEO was in error then I'd refer her to that LEO. I would give her the LEO's extension or tell her when he would be back to work and how to reach him at work.
3. If she didn't like that option I'de instruct her to go to court on her court date and tell the judge.
4. She could call her insurance company and have them investigate her claim or version of events.
5. She could speak with a supervisor.
6. If any of that was not to her liking she could also take her case to civil court (depending on the circumstances).
Other than that I can not help her any further. I had one similar incident to this scenario. He kept asking the same question over and over and over about a numerical error on an accident report. I kept explaining the same thingas above over and over and over again until he left.

[Madball]

I would do the following:

1. Explain the information on the form.
2. If she feels the information is incorrect or the LEO was in error then I'd refer her to that LEO. I would give her the LEO's extension or tell her when he would be back to work and how to reach him at work.
3. If she didn't like that option I'de instruct her to go to court on her court date and tell the judge.
4. She could call her insurance company and have them investigate her claim or version of events.
5. She could speak with a supervisor.
6. If any of that was not to her liking she could also take her case to civil court (depending on the circumstances).
Other than that I can not help her any further. I had one similar incident to this scenario. He kept asking the same question over and over and over about a numerical error on an accident report. I kept explaining the same thingas above over and over and over again until he left.

I'm glad someone sees a viewpoint other than bashing the investigating officer. we have no idea what this womans contact was with the officer prior to her coming in and demanding to speak to him. if i was on front desk duty, i would never tell a citizen "yea hold on he's right here let me go get him." just as westside stated, provide phone extension of the officer, and its up to him to get back to her (which, by the way, i believe he should).