Before I could even shut the door to my cruiser, my cell phone rang. The Shift Commander told me to come see him in his office right away. Why was I not surprised?
Politics
Small town politics can be so maddening.
I had just responded to a minor car accident and found that both drivers had committed violations that, in my humble opinion, had contributed to the crash. So, I wrote both drivers a ticket. After all, that was the flavor of the month at my department — citing at-fault drivers at accidents. (It never really made sense to me that writing a ticket after an accident would then prevent future accidents of other drivers from occurring. If you know the answer to this, please, enlighten me).
One driver was a seventeen year old kid, the other, a town Selectman and State Representative. Now you’re catching on.
Void
I don’t know what form of government you have in your city, town, or county, but if it has a Board of Selectmen, you feel my pain and Heaven help you. I’m pretty sure the word “Selectman” comes from the Latin root word for, “bullied as a child so needs to wield the power of his tiny office to feel important as an adult.”
Anyway, when I got back to the station I stepped into the Lieutenant’s office and found not only the Lieutenant there, but two Captains and the Chief. Keep in mind, that was pretty much the entire command staff. After I explained what had happened and how both driver’s had committed violations, I was told to void the Selectman’s ticket.
Me: “Uh, no.”
Less than pleased with my response, the Lieutenant took the ticket from me and then “re-investigated” the accident. Later, he wrote a supplement report saying that I had improperly investigated the accident and therefore had come to the wrong conclusion as to who was at fault and the resulting traffic ticket. The Selectman’s ticket then vanished into the ether known as Small Town Politics.
Fuming
Visions of calling the Governor’s office, the Attorney General, the media, somebody, anybody, occupied my every thought. I wanted to teach them a lesson for undermining my authority, and frankly, embarrassing me. But I realized that even though I was a sworn law enforcement officer with powers of arrest and all that, my real authority, my true power, really came not from my badge, but from my discretion.
Balancing the Scales
The following day I drove to the seventeen year old’s home (which was in town), knocked at the door, and explained the situation to the kid and his dad. I took the ticket back and voided it the right way: on the record. The kid was wide eyed and confused, but his dad was picking up what I was putting down. There was no way I was going to let this kid bear the blame because a Selectman with an inflated ego and a Lieutenant with no backbone wanted to put the accident all on him. With that, I did what I could do to balance the scales of justice.
Compound Interest and Slippery Slopes
Was this the scandal of the century? Not even close. Did it bruise my ego? Yes. Did I feel mistreated and embarrassed? Yup. Did I handle it the best way possible? I don’t know.
In hindsight, I look back and see two things going on. One, it was a small test of my integrity as I faced the pressures of the powers that were. Second, it was a lesson in understanding discretion and how I could wield it fairly and justly.
Could it have been my first step down the slippery slope of moral compromise had I caved? Probably not. I’m not saying it was the defining moment in my career that would determine wether or not I would become a crooked cop or something. Let’s be honest, I wasn’t exactly Ethan Hawke in Training Day and it wasn’t my first handout from the Mob. But, I do believe that little things matter, and they compound like interest in an investment account.
Just like money, our behaviors compound with interest, whether good or bad. So, keep doing the right thing, no matter how small, over and over again. Little things matter. Don’t let them slide.
PS: I kept a copy of the ticket just in case it ever returned from the ether…
- What ethical or moral dilemma have you faced in your career?
- How did you handle it?
- What was the outcome?
- What could you have done differently?
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