Patrol Supervision and Personnel Management
This domain tests how a captain builds a shift: deploying people, supervising their work, correcting performance early, and documenting both. Scenarios typically involve a supervisor who either over-supervised (micromanaged) or under-supervised (never left the station house).
Deployment
Roll call sets the plan: post and sector assignments, directed-patrol conditions from crime analysis, and officer safety briefings. A sergeant typically supervises roughly eight to ten officers, a lieutenant three to five sergeants. Assign coverage so that no supervisor is responsible for more units than can be checked in a tour, and rotate fixed posts for alertness.
Supervision in the field
Supervisors respond to 10-13 (officer needs assistance) and to any use of force. They review activity for quality, not volume: an officer with zero activity and an officer with padded activity are different problems. Arrest review checks probable cause, search basis, and completeness before the paperwork leaves the command.
Correcting performance
Progressive ladder: verbal counseling, documented counseling, formalized training, monitoring, Command Discipline, Department charges. Match the tool to the pattern. A single late report is counseling; a documented pattern after counseling is a Command Discipline.
Worked example
A sergeant's reports arrive late three tours running. The captain does not open with charges. First, documented counseling with a specific deadline; second, a check on whether the sergeant is being deployed in a way that makes timely reports impossible; third, if the pattern persists, Command Discipline. The file must show each rung was offered.
Traps
Discipline without a documented counseling trail; writing evaluations that contradict prior counseling; leaving a 10-13 to a sergeant without command presence; using activity numbers as the sole performance measure; failing to record the briefing given at roll call when an officer later claims no instruction was given.