Conflict Management: Taking on Deadwood in Law Enforcement

• NCJ Number: 193285
• Journal: Police Chief Volume: 68 Issue: 12 Dated: December 2001 Pages: 41-45
• Author(s): John W. Feltgen
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article examines the need for law enforcement management to deal with unproductive employees.

Abstract

The initial approach by management in confronting unproductive employees should be a positive one. Management should directly confront the employee with performance information based not on the number of arrests or citations but rather by prevention initiatives within the community. At the time of the confrontation, referred to as counseling by management, the employee should be permitted to have representation of his or her attorney. The employee is informed that his performance is not meeting the needs of both the community and the agency in relation to effective crime prevention initiatives. If the employee argues that he is doing his job effectively, management should provide information that shows the employee is deficient in terms of overall objectives of the agency and his relation to community relations. Statistical information plays a critical role in management’s attempt to turn the employee into a productive member of the department. Pending successful completion of counseling, management may return the employee to full-duty status and performance with close supervision. If the employee fails to meet the needs of the agency over a 30-day period, management again directly confronts the employee. If the employee continues to point to personal problems, having been provided with internal assistance, management initiates a recommendation for termination. If management sticks to its position of terminating unproductive employees, it will discover that a majority of employees will show great improvement. In the event the employee fails to respond positively to FTO training, the agency immediately initiates a recommendation for termination. The document will now support the fact that management identified a deficiency in the employee and offered every opportunity to assist the employee with counseling and remedial training. In those cases where the employee is terminated, he may appeal. Management can justify its termination based on clear documentation of poor performance in addition to the employee’s inability to meet the needs of the agency and the community in spite of management’s attempt to work with the employee.