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training. Without leadership and guidance during everyday activities, some officers <br />will allow the quality of their work to suffer and soon poor quality work becomes <br />the norm. As the cycle continues, the public begins to lose co~Tfidence in the police <br />department. As confidence erodes, so does public support for the department and <br />eventually the morale of the department suffers. Some EPD members complain they <br />do not feel supported by management. They see other members doing substandard <br />work with impunity, and their own efforts go unrewarded. Supervisors report they <br />are consumed by routine and collateral tasks. They report they do not have enough <br />time with their subordinates, much less time to develop their own supervisory skills. <br /> <br />The recent arrest and conviction of officers for serious criminal misconduct during <br />on-duty activities raises the issue of supervision. It is hard to imagine that patrol <br />officers- with clearly defined roles and geographic boundaries- were able engage <br />in such serious misconduct for so long and go undetected. Without doubt, their <br />illegal actions were not perpetrated in the presence of supervisors, but there clearly <br />was a failure of supervision. Certainly there is no suggestion that the actions of these <br />officers stemmed from supervisory shortcomings. The question remains though. <br />Were they were allowed to go undetected because of a lack of sufficient time to <br />better monitor them in the field or because of a failure in supervisory training? Even <br />when the first attempts were made to report the crimes, supervisors failed consider <br />the validity of the complaint. <br /> <br /> Recommendation No. 46: Sergeants need to spend more time on the street <br /> observing, supervising, and developing their subordinates~ <br /> <br /> Discussion: Sergeants report not having the sufficient time to supervise. <br /> Coupled with the conviction of officers for duty-related misconduct not <br /> caught by their supervisors, that suggests a major problem exists. The span of <br /> control between patrol sergeants and their work groups is appropriate. The <br /> <br /> 67 <br /> <br /> <br />