I can count on one thing ever single day I work. I have an Officer on my shift what will tell on himself within 5 seconds of doing something he shouldn’t have. Don’t get me wrong, I love it! I don’t ever have to worry about hearing that he did something from anyone else. The best part is, he usually makes it out to be worse than what really happened. As another supervisor said one time, “It’s hard to be mad at him because he’s accountable for his actions.”
I know that troop. I know that I will never hear that he did something wrong and wonder if he really did or not. If someone were to come to me and say, “Hey, you’re officer smacked this guy in the mouth.”, I would know there was no truth in the statement. Why? Because this troop’s integrity is unimpeachable.
But I have had some troops where you have to constantly wonder where they are and what they are doing. I’ve known some that you couldn’t trust as far as you could throw them (and once I could prove they were untrustworthy, there were gone). I have always told every troop that get assigned to my shift, my number 1 expectation is DO NOT LIE TO ME!
I also look out for my troops’ welfare. I can recall an incident where one of my guys was fighting with a suspect and wrenched his back. He held on until help arrived, but once we got there, he was out of the fight. I immediately sent him back to the office to complete some basic paperwork and sent him to the hospital. There were no questions asked. He was hurt and he needed to go. All the medical paperwork was done for him.
I can recall another time when I my welfare was looked out for. Well, my wife’s actually. I received a call from my wife that she had miscarried. She was 11 weeks pregnant. I called my chain of command and the first words out of their mouths were, “Go!” They took care of covering the shift. It really was the moment that I knew I belonged at the agency.
Got an extra job coming up and you know one of your troops is hurting for cash? Sit this one out Sarge and give the job to him. That is looking out for their welfare. Can you tell me the birthdays of your troops? What about their wives? Their kid’s name? Their name? 
Get to know your people and then make sure you look out for them. They will return the favor.
What have you done to learn your troops and look out for their welfare? Leave a comment below!
