Recording (1)

Officer Smith responded to a call about a criminal mischief incident. The victim's son vandalized her car, but Officer Smith refused to pursue charges because they were related. The victim was unhappy with how Officer Smith handled the situation, so another officer took over the case and arrested the son. Officer Smith was reprimanded and given counseling and training on communication skills. It was revealed that Officer Smith had personal issues affecting his work. With help, he is expected to improve in his career. Red and blue lights cover 75 blacks of change. The miles of cars full of people with nothing to say. Sometimes you think that it's just another November day. The moments I can't help but be mad knowing I'll be your constant. You called me on the cell phone telling me there's nothing to doubt. And I wait for a miracle, but you just come back around. Oh, I kiss you goodbye a thousand times, but never like I'm doing right now. Oh, well, I'm going up for the office alone. Good morning, everybody. Today we're on police talk. We got about an officer who couldn't help out a citizen and didn't provide her with the resources that she needed. So it was brought to my attention that Officer Smith responded to a call for service and was in regards to a criminal mischief on her vehicle. The victim told me that an individual came over to her house, slashed her tires, keyed her car, busted up her driver's side window and back window of her vehicle. She told me Officer Smith got there and listened to her story. The victim in this case was able to provide Officer Smith with names, date of birth of the suspect. She said she knew who the suspect was and the suspect was her son. Officer Smith then told her that due to the suspect being her relative and her son that he was not going to pursue any criminal charges because it is considered community property. One thing that the victim noted to Officer Smith was that her son does not live with her, nor has he not lived with her in the past three to four years. So one thing we need to address is how Officer Smith handled himself speaking to the victim. Regardless of the incident, there should not be any finger pointing, anybody to blame saying that you're to blame for this incident. We as officers, we as public servants, we need to take the information and do what we need to do. We need to investigate the crime, we need to report the crime, and we need to follow up with any individuals involved with it, whether it's the suspect, the victim, the neighbors, trying to get anybody else's surveillance, and get it taken care of. Officer Smith also didn't ask the victim if she was wishing to pursue criminal charges. While I spoke to the victim in person, I was able to get an estimate of how much damage was around $2,500 and some change. The thing that I did to get a good taste in the victim's mouth of law enforcement, she was not happy with Officer Smith. She believed he gives a bad name to police officers. She was not happy with the agency. She felt that the agency has let her down and the police department has let her down as well. One thing that I did to resolve this issue was I listened to all the facts that she has to provide. I watched her video surveillance that Officer Smith failed to obtain from her ring doorbell camera and her ring security camera. All videos obtained were key evidence to the case and showed the intent of her son damaging her property that he rightfully does not own. Gathered all that information from the victim and began to work a case on him. Provided that case further up to our captain. Captain believed that there was exigent circumstances to obtain a warrant, which I did. That following night, we were able to arrest her son for a criminal mischief. Provided that information to our victim. She was pleased with how I handled myself, how I handled the call, how I took care of her needs and took care of the situation. Now she'll be able to go to court and get the restitution that she needs. Now that we have the situation taken care of with the victim and she's satisfied, it's now time to address what's going on with Officer Smith. I sat Officer Smith down. He told me that he got fed up of responding to that call or to that residence multiple times due to family issues, disagreements, the mother and son not wanting to be around each other and being at each other's throat. I told Officer Smith, regardless of the situation, regardless of how many times we go out to that house, we still cannot rush the victim off and say that what's going on isn't going on. Every call that we respond to, we need to take serious and we need to respond to it on a serious note. Officer Smith's rude and lack of assistance was addressed as well. I told him what we are perceiving in the public's eyes, what we're going to look like, what we look like to the public. We need to present ourselves professionally. Ultimately, we're professionals of what we do. We're professionals of this career. We're professionals of applying the law to the community. We need to present ourselves like that and we must hold ourselves to a higher standard. Officer Smith understood. He also noted that he's been having some personal issues at home that he's been bringing to work. He was educated on how he needs to separate work life and personal life. He was given some counseling. He was issued a counseling for his lack of assistance and him being rude and pushing the victim off. Ultimately, he was also given remedial training on communication skills and he was also sent to some communication training for officers, how to better communicate with citizens and the basics on community policing. Ultimately, community policing and knowing how to communicate with our community members is essential and that's something that Officer Smith lacked. I do believe once Officer Smith gets this additional training, he will prevail in the career field. This is the first incident that I have dealt with Officer Smith like this. It stems from having some issues with personal life and bringing it into work and letting his personal life affect his work life. And vice versa, he's letting his work life affect his personal life. With some mental health help, some counseling and some assistance and guidance by his supervisors, I do believe Officer Smith will do great and move up in the future within our department. Well, I appreciate you for listening to this podcast. If you would like to hear more, just reach out and we can do another one. Thank you.