Holding somebody accountable for a standard I never made clear isn’t accountability. It’s me blaming them for something I assumed they knew.
That’s an easy trap, because the longer you’ve been on the job, the more things start to feel obvious. I can look at a report and know what’s missing. I can hear about a call and know when I would’ve wanted a supervisor involved. But that doesn’t mean I ever told the officer what I expected.
So before I get too far into “they should’ve known better,” I want to know whether they actually did. That doesn’t mean I need to spell out every move an officer makes. This job requires judgment, and I want officers to use it. But there’s a difference between giving somebody discretion and making them guess what I had in mind.
If I tell somebody to handle something, maybe I mean make the decision and tell me later. Maybe I want a phone call before they take action. If that difference is important to me, it’s my job to make it clear. Explaining the reason behind a decision helps too. If somebody understands why I draw the line where I do, there’s a better chance they’ll recognize it themselves the next time.
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The officer still owns their part. I expect them to learn policy, pay attention, ask questions when something isn’t clear, and accept correction when somebody points out a problem. “I didn’t know” can be a legitimate answer. It gets a lot less useful after I’ve explained the expectation and we’re having the same conversation again.
That’s why I’d rather deal with a small problem while it’s still small. If a report isn’t good enough, say so. If somebody keeps missing the same thing, tell them what you’re seeing and what needs to change. Letting it sit for six months doesn’t make the standard clearer. It just gives the problem more time to become normal.
By the time I’m seriously talking about accountability, I want to know the standard was clear, the problem was addressed, and the officer had a fair chance to correct it. If I can’t say that, I need to look at my part before I start talking about theirs.
