The Cash on the Register and the Missing Patrol Entry
Constable Ramesh is a 24-year-old guard on the 22:00–06:00 shift at a 96-flat residential complex with a single gate. At 23:40 a van carrying 14 cartons of "urgent" parcel delivery arrives; the driver has no gate pass and says the resident in Flat B-704 - who is not answering the intercom - ordered it. The driver places two ₹500 notes on the register and says "just five minutes, nobody will know." Ramesh's shift supervisor is off duty and the control-room phone is unattended because the relief guard is on a meal break. Twenty minutes later the relief guard returns and asks Ramesh to sign the 23:00–23:30 patrol entry in the register, saying he "covered it mentally" while sitting at the gate. The complex's standing order says no vehicle entry after 22:00 without written resident approval and supervisor authorisation.
1. Should Ramesh accept the money and allow entry? Set out what he should do with the cash, the van and the resident's parcel, and the reasoning behind each step.
Read the worked answer
Refuse the money - and do not touch it. Pick up neither note; keep hands visible and say clearly, "I cannot accept money; entry is controlled by the standing order." Accepting it, even "for safekeeping", creates a bribe and would be the first thing investigated if a carton went missing.
The van stays outside. The standing order requires written resident approval and supervisor authorisation after 22:00; Ramesh has neither and the intercom is unanswered. A guard has no authority to waive a written control because a driver is in a hurry.
Try the registered number, not the driver's phone. Call the number recorded for B-704 in the gate register; if there is no answer, ask the driver to wait in the outer bay, note the vehicle number and keep the gate closed.
Record and escalate. Write the time (23:40), vehicle number, driver name, 14 cartons, the ₹1,000 offer and the exact words used; inform the supervisor at handover. If the driver turns aggressive, do not open the gate - call police.
2. The relief guard asks Ramesh to sign the 23:00–23:30 patrol entry. How should Ramesh respond, and why does it matter beyond this one entry?
Read the worked answer
Refuse to sign. A patrol entry is a contemporaneous record that a specific round was walked at a specific time. Signing for a round he did not do is a false entry, whatever the relief guard's intentions.
Why it matters beyond this entry:
- If an incident occurred between 23:00 and 23:30, the register becomes evidence; a false entry destroys the guard's own credibility and the agency's case.
- Falsifying a security record is misconduct and can lead to dismissal; if a loss follows, it may also expose the guard and the agency to liability.
- It protects the relief guard too: repeated "mental" patrols are exactly how a gap becomes a habit.
What to do instead: offer to walk the next round with him; at handover state the facts plainly to the supervisor - the 23:00–23:30 entry is blank, the relief guard was at the gate during his meal break - without accusation. If pressured, escalate to the supervisor or agency in writing.
Do not write a vague or backdated entry to avoid conflict.
3. Next morning the resident of B-704 complains that her delivery was refused, and the supervisor asks Ramesh to explain. What points should he state, and how should he frame them?
Read the worked answer
Give the supervisor a factual timeline, not an opinion. Ramesh should state: at 23:40 a delivery van with 14 cartons and no gate pass requested entry; the resident of B-704 did not answer the intercom; the driver offered ₹1,000; the standing order required written approval and supervisor authorisation, which were absent; the van was kept outside and the driver asked to wait in the outer bay; the offer and refusal were logged.
Link each action to the rule and the risk. The rule exists because an unverified vehicle at night is the classic route for theft or intrusion; the cash offer makes verification more important, not less.
Offer a workable solution - a resident pre-authorisation slip or app approval for late deliveries, and a named supervisor contact after 22:00 - so the complaint becomes a procedure fix. Do not accuse the resident or the driver; the register and any gate CCTV support the account.