My police department is broken!

From our "exhaustive research" we have found that there are very serious problems with most police agencies on the eastern shore of Maryland a.k.a. armpit of Maryland. In general, here are a list of systemic problems with most agencies. We poop on you. You know who you are.

1. Administrative importance. More emphasis is placed on administration, political gain, and control than on actual Law Enforcement efforts. You would be amazed at how much actual time is spend within agencies trying to figure out what employees, specifically patrol, are doing, what they are thinking, identifying who's bucking the system, and how to keep them on a leash, and exacting personal payback for perceived wrongs that administration thinks employees are doing (i.e. pushing back or questioning them). Political grandstanding also has serious issues. What do you think?

2. Brown nosers, hookups, & favorites. Brown nosers move up quickly, get nicer vehicles, get advanced notice of overtime assignments, get better assignments, and are generally taken care of internally. If you are not in the click the you are shit outta luck. This is especially true through most of the "larger" organizations on the shore. The funny thing is is that administration doesn't really realize the full impact of brown nosers. While you could have two employees, one a brown noser and one not, the brown noser will always be taken care of over the regular poor slob. So the poor slob is doing his share of the work but never gets a share of the pie. This has a seriously negative effect on agency moral. Brown nosers only help themselves. Generally, they are only truly interested in their advancement or special treatment so while the ass kissing makes administration feel all warm and squishy that a peon is kissing their asses, it does nothing for the administration themselves or the agency. So a symbiotic relationship exists where the ass kisser gets ahead and the administration has their ego inflated. But, little else gets accomplished except for pissing off beat cops who are overlooked in the work that they do. Brown nosers we poop on you. Who's brown nosing in your agency?

3. Wasted money. God how much money is wasted on totally useless crap and bad decisions. Literally thousands and thousands of dollars is wasted each year on the dumbest stuff you could imagine that have absolutely no value whatsoever in making the area or the agency services safer for the community. We would like to hear how your agency has wasted tax payers funds?

4. Lack of training. Some agencies provide the proper amount of in service training and offer to send their personnel to all types of schools. Although some training out of state is expensive, the training at the police academy is about $12.00 per person. So there is really no excuse not to send people to more training. In some agencies training is also used as a method of control by sending only people they want to send to police instructors school for instance. There is no excuse for providing only minimal training to personnel. Remember, you can attend training without agency approval if you take leave and request to attend through the police academy. Agencies by law can not govern what you do in your off-duty time unless it conflicts with an off-duty employment policy, which you have to be compensated for, its in LEOBOR. Do you have training issues at your dept?

5. Scare tactics and intimidation.
Poor agency administration use scare tactics and intimidation in order to keep their subordinates "under the thumb" of the agency. These tactics include bogus write ups, bogus internals, memo after memo after memo, scathing e-mails, and transfers. Does your agency use scare tactics and intimidation?

6. Separation of personnel. Many agencies separate personnel in order to interfere with their cohesion. Some agencies transfer people on a routine basis (which makes no sense). If people work well together, leave them alone. Some agencies also place a large and vast separation between administration and peons. Do your administrators attend roll call or work the road routinely and make arrests? Does your agency use separation?

7. Crap rolls downhill. A lot of administrative personnel make their problems everyone else's problems because they either don't know how to effectively deal with it or are just lazy to deal with the issues. Does crap roll right over you at your agency?

8. Do as I say, not as I do. It is the sole job of administration to make the agency run more effectively. That's it. Many administrators forget they were once cops also and constantly break their own rules that they put into place. Many supervisors and administrators break regulations all the time because they do not lead by example. However if a line officer commits the same offense, it's hell to pay. Does this happen at your agency?

9. Administrative assistants more important than road officers. Ever notice how people that work administratively in the agency are tighter with admin than peons? Can they never do anything wrong? Are they supported by administration much more then peons even though their job is to lubricate road operations (such as dispatchers, records, property custodians, or even Secretaries)?

10. Internal Drama. Does your agency have a lot of internal drama? Who's screwing who, who is backstabbing who, who's breaking up with who, who doesn't do their share, cops talking behind each others backs, talks talking smack about other agencies they work with directly?

11. Lack of resources. Does your department issue you everything you need to succeed? Do you find that your equipment is lacking? Do you have the proper equipment to respond to serious calls where life may be in jeopardy (weapons, hostage negotiators, translators, etc), Are your cars falling apart? Do you have a lack of manpower on the road? All serious problems that can and do affect the safety of the citizenry. Personnel and resources should be placed where they will be the most effective. If you have not enough personnel in a road division but you are top heavy in administration or CID or wherever than those people should be reassigned back to the road. Resources also have to be placed effectively in the same manner. An administrator who never leaves the office has no use for a rifle. Are resources poorly used in your agency?

12. To little to late. A high turnover rate can be for several reasons such as pay, call for service volume, benefits, personnel conflicts, moral and other. However, many agencies turn over rates and moral problems are because administration does not do what they can to fix problems. Many agencies only provide a band aid solution to problems, if address them at all. Many agencies routinely ignore e-mails or written requests from peons but require that you get back with them ASAP! What about your agency?

13. Moral. Some agencies have a very serious moral problem. Moral is one of the most important aspects of a patrol division because it tends to galvanize patrol into being productive rather than counter productive or passive resistive. Passive resistant behavior happens when patrol personnel get so upset with their agency or administration that they fail to produce to their potential. Although it is not an organized effort many personnel become so upset that their production becomes almost flat line for stats. This is no good for either the agency, it's personnel, or the safety of citizens. Many administrators find that their personnel are being "bitchy" or complainers however, that is a poor way to look at a very serious problem that can lead to call outs, quitting, or even officer suicides. It is a tough job all around but it is that much worse when you have to deal with internal agency politics or other complete bull crap. What about your agency?

14. Politics. Being too political can lead to massive internal problems. You can't please all of the people, all of the time. Things should not be done for political reasons or to score points with the general public. While it is very important to keep the public happy with their police force, mainly because they support the police department with tax dollars, it is also equally important to serve the law in a manner that is effective, a deterrent, and generates results. Politics can massively interfere with that if your agency is more worried about glad handing people rather than enforcing laws.

15. Crazy decisions. Does your department make decisions that make you scratch your head in amazement that some fool made these decisions? Do they never provide an explanation why a crazy decision was made? Why would a department take an aggressive officer and place them in a non aggressive position? Why would and agency give a new vehicle to an officer that is barely seen or does no effective work? Why would an agency buy $5000.00 in new equipment to replace functional equipment or unneeded equipment? What about your agency, any crazy decisions?