P1 First Person: The art of discipline

By Lieutenant Anthony Powalie
Painesville Police Department

Of all the obstacles you are going to encounter as a supervisor, discipline is the most challenging. You have to be an advocate for your department’s policies, but you can’t be a bull in a china shop either.

Discipline in some ways is a balancing act. You’re looking for a specific outcome from an unpleasant experience.

Discipline is not something that we look forward to. In fact, disciplinary problems usually raise their ugly heads at the most inconvenient times. It then becomes just another issue that needs to be handled — in the midst of everything else.

A Balancing Act
When I got promoted to Sergeant, the only advice I ever received was to watch my back because the patrol officers would test me. You see, when you get promoted, all the things you have done in your patrol career will now become a defense for the disciplined employee.

If you were someone who slept through their alarm routinely on day shift, you will have a difficult time disciplining someone for the same thing.

One thing you need to realize is that none of us are beyond reproach. We have all made mistakes during our careers. We have all had errors in judgment that have been filed away in some employee’s mind, which may resurface the minute they are presented with their disciplinary notice.

In this article, we will discuss the balancing act of discipline, the inherent problems with overuse of discipline and the lack thereof.

I want to preface this by saying I am not an expert on discipline. I just want to give some insight on my experiences, and what I have learned. Hopefully, based on my experiences, it will make the process of discipline easier for you.

When we talk about a balancing act we have to weigh the pros and cons. When a violation of policy takes place, we all agree that there must be some sort of discipline, but we all do not agree on the type.

We have to remember that while discipline by definition is a punishment, we are trying to correct deficient behavior. We can accomplish this in several ways, from verbal warning and written documentation to training.

Each agency’s policies will dictate the progression of discipline, but we have some room to move.

Bringing Credibility
As a leader, you have to be able to use common sense and know your employees. If you have an officer that comes in every day with a squared away uniform and good attitude, then all of a sudden their uniform is below standards and they seem agitated or sullen, common sense would indicate that something else may be going on with the employee.

There may be personal issues such as marital or financial problems. Your policy may indicate that this employee requires a written reprimand, but this may be where the wiggle room comes in to play.

Sit down and talk with the employee about their change in behavior. See if there is an underlying reason for the violation. If you have shown your subordinates that you care about them, they will more than likely open up and discuss the problem.

I would caution that it is not enough just to identify the issues, but you must also assist the employee in trying to resolve them. Employees may shut down if they initially open up to you and then you don’t help them; they need to trust you.

Assisting them can be anything from direction on how to handle a problem based on your own experiences, to referral to counseling services.

It’s important for your subordinates to understand that you’ve made mistakes in your career (or personal life) to bring some credibility to the table. Sometimes it is effective to let the employee know that you have made mistakes and let them know what worked for you to resolve the problems; these may be something the employee has not tried.

It is a leader’s duty to look at the whole picture, and to take an interest in the employee. The employee must know that the behavior is not acceptable; however, you need to show you understand the issues at hand and show a motivation in helping them solve them.

If you have shown your subordinates that you care about them, you can guide this employee to resolution of their issues and bring them back to the productive employee they were.

Yes we as leaders wear stripes, bars or stars, but remember that getting promoted does not dissolve our human side. In other words, pinning a rank on does not immediately make you a better person.

I would highly recommend that if you choose this option, make sure you document the encounter. You can do this simply in a word document or notebook.

If an employee has not resolved their behavior -- or it worsens -- you need to have supporting documentation in order to take the next steps in addressing it.

In cases where an employee is not responsive to your assistance, let them know that you are there if they need to talk. They must understand that even though there are issues, the violations cannot be tolerated.

I refer to this as an iron fist in a velvet glove approach. I’ve found for the most part the employee will return to talk to you. I’ll say that if they are not responsive to your assistance, and their behavior continues, more formal documentation is required.

You have to watch carefully because if we as leaders do nothing, that is when we open ourselves up to vicarious liability in more extreme cases.

Now, let’s talk about the overuse of discipline. This is the supervisor who issues written documentation for every deviation of policies. As we all know, policies are merely a guideline.

No policy, as much as administrators try, can possibly cover every scenario we will face in our careers.

Officers will sometimes have to make a decision to deviate from policy. One example I can use is the time I made a traffic stop and the driver had a suspended license; he was arrested and placed in my cruiser.

While filling out the citation, a shooting occurred. I opened the door, removed the handcuffs and cautioned him not to drive and responded to the shooting. Was this a violation of policy? Of course it was, but was it necessary? The answer is yes it was.

Sometimes in our day-to-day operations, we have to fly by the seat of our pants. That’s the nature of the business. Any supervisor who does not recognize this is setting themselves up for failure.

Flying by the Seat of Our Pants
We’ve all seen newly promoted supervisors who come out of the gates and begin disciplining with a vengeance. From my experience, officers will begin to leave that particular shift. Some will stay for the shift hours or some other personal benefit they get from it, but are not happy. The majority will leave; some of these may be senior officers with experience you need.

How do I know this?

I was that supervisor when I got promoted.

I admit that the only piece of advice I received about officers testing me became a personal agenda. I was not going to allow that and was going to “set the tone” for my shift. I quickly found that the only thing I was proving was that no one wanted to work on my shift.

I found myself not wanting to come to work, and becoming disgruntled. However, I quickly realized that I was the causative factor for my issues. Some supervisors cannot make that personal assessment, and they continue their disciplinarian ways.

The overuse of discipline can have many negative effects. As stated earlier, officers will migrate from the shift, productivity will decrease, and shift cohesion will turn into patrol versus the supervisors.

If you discipline a certain employee repeatedly, that employee may become a martyr in the eyes of his or her coworkers. I’ve seen this and it begins a process of decay within the agency.

The truth of the matter is we are all working for the same goal, which is a reduction of crime. There is no reward as a supervisor for the most employees disciplined. You are only alienating yourself, as I found.

Lack of discipline is a far worse problem than overuse. With no discipline, employees will feel they can do what they want with no consequences. The problem here is obvious; it will literally tear down your organization.

Don’t Give Up
I’ve personally witnessed this and the effects were staggering. It is very difficult to remedy under your current administration, because past practice comes into play. You will find yourself trying to defend the discipline.

If you have a chief that wants to be liked by the department, the discipline will most likely be reversed.

This brings about animosity and could result in you shutting down, which no one benefits from. If you find yourself in this type of environment, I would suggest requesting a staff meeting to discuss the issues and try to come to some sort of consensus among the supervisors.

If this cannot be achieved, then unfortunately a new administration will have to fix this.

If that’s the case, don’t give up.

You must always lead the best way you know how and discipline where necessary, because there are employees that understand the process and will come to your shift for the structure.

Officers understand there are consequences for their actions, but we as leaders have a responsibility to be consistent and fair with those disciplinary actions. Remember, unless you are the chief, you cannot fix all of the problems, but being consistent and showing your officers you care about their wellbeing ultimately will be beneficial to everyone.

You may recognize some — or all — of this taking place in your agency. Learn from my mistakes and what I’ve learned, and you and your officers will be better for it.