Policies are not Rules

Jan. 30, 2008
Just because your department has policies are terrible, it doesn't mean they're not necessary

Stop me if you've heard this one: "The administration doesn't care about us. They only have written policies so they can hang us out to dry." How about this one: "Policies aren't worth the paper they're written on."

For some reason, many officers think that these, and maybe a few other old bromides, are the philosophy behind policy development. I've asked a lot of officers why they feel this way, and I've gotten many answers, but there doesn't seem to be any consistency to the arguments they put forth. I guess those officers are just basically unhappy, and looking for someone to blame.

The fact is that, without well written policy documents, your police department (or sheriff's department, or whatever law enforcement agency) would be a difficult place to work - much more difficult than it probably is now. Policies are the "operating instructions" that a department runs by.

The Problem

So maybe the issue isn't that policies - in and of themselves - are bad. Maybe the problem is that your department's particular policies are poorly drawn, or improperly implemented, or unevenly enforced. If those are the real issues, then there are some steps that can be taken to make things right.

Step One: Good Raw Material

First, we need to make sure that you have policies on the right things, and that those policies are well written. If you're lucky, you have a really squared away boss; one that has the wherewithal to develop policies without help, and time to bring them to fruition. In that case, you're probably not reading this article because YOU have a problem; you're probably reading it to see how the rest of us live.

For everyone else, the problem is often that the boss just doesn't have enough time to be able to focus on getting policies properly drawn. Further, when he or she does put one together, the resulting document doesn't go over particularly well with the rest of the staff.

This is where a policy development committee can really help out. "Oh no," you say. "Not management by committee!" No, that's not what I'm talking about. I mean a group of employees that come from all the different areas of your department, brought together for the purpose of providing input into the development of policies.

This group should include members from different shifts, and from the jail or investigative staff. Some supervisors should be involved, as well as a union steward or two. Make sure that different genders and ethnicities are included. Don't let the group be too command-heavy, but make sure to include someone from the chief's staff that has some policy development experience.

Ideally, the boss doesn't sit as a member of the committee: The committee draws up recommended policy language, and sends it to him or her. This is all done with the understanding that the boss will not automatically adopt whatever the committee says, but will give it careful consideration when putting together the final version.

Here's the thing: The boss has to believe that he or she has the autonomy to still direct policy issues, and the committee has to believe that their work will be respected - that their input will be given its due. When that occurs, amazing policies can get put into place.

In fact, once the boss sees how serious the committee is about this policy stuff, he or she often accepts most of their work as legitimate, and enacts it without change. Committees, on the other hand, value the ability to have input, and, especially with sensitive policies that are often contentious when released to the rest of the department, the fact that members from across the department have been involved in the development process often means that the other members of the agency more readily accept the new policy language.

Step Two: Implementation

Once the policies are developed, and honed, they need to be implemented. Many times, this is where the process breaks down. Policies can't just be released into the wild, like newborn cubs. The ground needs to be properly prepared.

Ideally, policies should be discussed with supervisory staff prior to general release. The supervisors should be the first employees exposed to the finished policies, if for no other reason than that they may see some glaring issue that - if left unchanged - will make the policy difficult to enforce. Supervisors also need to be sensitized to the rationale behind the new policy language so they can properly explain the policies to their subordinates.

Policies should then be disseminated to all affected parties, through a process that allows employees to review and ask questions regarding meaning and intent. If the policies in question are related to high risk topics - like use of force - then special training in the use of that particular policy is probably appropriate.

Step Three: Supervision and Enforcement

Once the policies are out there and in place, they need to be monitored for compliance. Again, this is a trouble spot in the policy chain. Everybody involved needs to remember that policies are not rules.

Let's say that again: Policies are not rules.

If you want a rule, write a rule. Policies are actual procedural guidelines that are intended to allow for flexibility in day to day policing. The reason policies aren't rules is that you can't have a rule for everything. You can have a rule about coming to work on time, and you can have a rule about not stealing, or lying, or doing any other specific thing.

You can't have a rule that tells you exactly what to do in every use of force situation. You need to have a general procedure that provides guidance to officers that have to make decisions about how to handle something. Because incidents on the street are infinitely variable, it's just impossible to have a rule for everything. The U.S. Supreme Court even took notice of this when they said - in Graham v. Connor - that the reasonableness of use of force by a police officer is not capable of mechanical application.

So, policies and procedures are general guidelines that help officers by providing a basis for discretionary decision making. You can't really violate a procedural guideline. You can, however, step so far outside policy that your actions can't be justified, and that sometimes happens. However, the fact that an officer varied from the written version of a policy or procedure merely reinforces the need for such documents in the first place.

Policies that are drawn up with employee input, distributed through an educational process, and utilized by supervisors in the way they were intended, can go a long way toward making your workplace a better place to be. Those sorts of policies really help everyone to do their job more professionally and evenly. That will help officers to stay safer, and spend less time at the defense table in a civil courtroom.

Stay safe, wear your vest and buckle up!

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