The Court Reporter Who Skips the Magnetometer
You are a two-year officer assigned to the main entrance of a criminal courthouse. Standing Order 14 requires that every person entering - employees included - pass through the magnetometer and have bags X-rayed; only sworn officers displaying agency credentials are exempt. At 8:50 a.m., with about 60 people in line, a court reporter who has worked in the building for 19 years walks around the magnetometer, waves her employee badge, and says she is already cleared and late for a calendar. Officer Novak, a 22-year veteran at the adjacent post, says, 'Let her through, she is fine, we do this every morning.' Your supervisor is in a meeting and cannot be reached for 40 minutes. The line now backs up to the street entrance.
1. What do you do in the next two minutes?
Read the worked answer
Screen her, briefly and courteously: 'I know it is a hassle, but I have to run everyone through - it takes about 30 seconds.' Keep the exchange short and keep the line moving.
Two things matter. First, an employee badge is not an agency credential, and 19 years of tenure does not create an exemption the order does not contain. Second, do not argue with Novak at the magnetometer in front of 60 members of the public; a quiet 'I will take this one' ends the friction without turning the entrance into a dispute. Defer the conversation with Novak to a private moment.
2. How do you handle Officer Novak afterward, and what do you escalate?
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Privately, after the morning rush. Open with a question rather than an accusation - 'How have you been handling her in the mornings?' - because Novak may be following a local practice your supervisor knows about and has tolerated.
Then state what you observed and that you cannot skip the screening step. The real issue is the pattern, not the individual: a daily exemption at one entrance is a security gap and a liability, and it undercuts every officer who enforces the rule.
Escalate in writing the same tour, framed as a consistency and coverage problem rather than a complaint about a colleague. Naming the practice is the job; blaming Novak is not.
3. What do you record about the incident, and what do you deliberately leave out?
Read the worked answer
Log the facts: time, name, what was said, what screening was performed, and the outcome. For example, note that the individual bypassed the magnetometer at 8:51 a.m. and was screened at 8:52 a.m. after being asked.
Leave out characterizations ('Novak was out of line'), speculation about anyone's motives, and any claim that the reporter was 'cleared' unless you can identify who cleared her and when. Do not record the exchange as a confrontation.
If the practice continues, a second dated entry establishes a pattern a supervisor can act on, which a single indignant narrative will not.