Case Study Jane Roberts Public Safety Officer Department The Astonville Police Department has 166 sworn officers who are also certified as firefighters. Twelve years ago, the Astonville city council adopted a proposal to combine traditional fire and police personnel into one public safety unit. The measure was intended to reduce costs and make more efficient use of manpower. As it turned out, neither traditional police officers nor traditional firefighters liked the idea. While it did save money during the first few years, costs associated with the public safety officer (PSO) program have continued to rise. For one thing, turnover is very high. The city is always trying to fill positions in the PSO program. New recruits obtain training as police officers and then obtain training as firefighters. Once certified, they can apply for traditional police or firefighting positions elsewhere in the state, often making considerably more money than with Astonville. In an effort to keep officers from taking other jobs in nearby cities, the administration encouraged supervisors to be “easy” on discipline and to give officers under their supervision some leeway. As a result, officers are “allowed” to take extra time on breaks, take classes at the local university during their shift, and even take time out of their shift to go to special functions at their children’s schools and such. “As long as the calls are answered promptly, let them have a break if nothing is going on,” supervisors were told by the managers. Crime Astonville enjoys a low crime rate. It is located in a suburban area 20 miles from a metropolitan city. There were two homicides last year, both domestic in nature. Four rapes were reported, all involving juvenile girls with adult perpetrators. Fourteen felonious assaults and two robberies were the total of crimes against persons last year. Property crimes were up from the previous year, particularly residential burglary. Several new, high-income housing projects were developed in Astonville, which seems to have attracted burglars to the area. Community Astonville had a population of 84,000 at the last census. However, the city has been growing steadily for the past several years. Due to its convenient location to the metropolitan area and its low property tax rates, Astonville has become popular with younger professionals working in the metropolitan area. The result has been an increase in the number of subdivisions with high-income housing. Astonville has a shopping mall and several specialty shopping centers. The downtown area hosts specialty shops and restaurants that are popular with the younger professionals that have recently moved to the city. There are seven public schools and three Christian schools. The Christian schools are also popular with the younger professional residents. There is one hospital and also several private clinics. The largest and most visible institution in Astonville is the state university, which normally has ...

1. Case Study
Jane Roberts Public Safety Officer
Department
The Astonville Police Department has 166 sworn officers who
are also certified as firefighters. Twelve years ago, the
Astonville city council adopted a proposal to combine
traditional fire and police personnel into one public safety unit.
The measure was intended to reduce costs and make more
efficient use of manpower. As it turned out, neither traditional
police officers nor traditional firefighters liked the idea. While
it did save money during the first few years, costs associated
with the public safety officer (PSO) program have continued to
rise. For one thing, turnover is very high. The city is always
trying to fill positions in the PSO program. New recruits obtain
training as police officers and then obtain training as
firefighters. Once certified, they can apply for traditional police
or firefighting positions elsewhere in the state, often making
considerably more money than with Astonville. In an effort to
keep officers from taking other jobs in nearby cities, the
administration encouraged supervisors to be “easy” on
discipline and to give officers under their supervision some
leeway. As a result, officers are “allowed” to take extra time on
breaks, take classes at the local university during their shift,
and even take time out of their shift to go to special functions at
their children’s schools and such. “As long as the calls are
answered promptly, let them have a break if nothing is going
on,” supervisors were told by the managers.
Crime
Astonville enjoys a low crime rate. It is located in a suburban
area 20 miles from a metropolitan city. There were two
homicides last year, both domestic in nature. Four rapes were
reported, all involving juvenile girls with adult perpetrators.
Fourteen felonious assaults and two robberies were the total of
crimes against persons last year. Property crimes were up from

2. the previous year, particularly residential burglary. Several
new, high-income housing projects were developed in
Astonville, which seems to have attracted burglars to the area.
Community
Astonville had a population of 84,000 at the last census.
However, the city has been growing steadily for the past several
years. Due to its convenient location to the metropolitan area
and its low property tax rates, Astonville has become popular
with younger professionals working in the metropolitan area.
The result has been an increase in the number of subdivisions
with high-income housing.
Astonville has a shopping mall and several specialty shopping
centers. The downtown area hosts specialty shops and
restaurants that are popular with the younger professionals that
have recently moved to the city. There are seven public schools
and three Christian schools. The Christian schools are also
popular with the younger professional residents. There is one
hospital and also several private clinics. The largest and most
visible institution in Astonville is the state university, which
normally has about 12,000 students. The state university has a
criminal justice program, and the city frequently tries to recruit
new graduates from that program into the Astonville Public
Safety Bureau.
Officer
Public Safety Officer Jane Roberts has just fulfilled her six-
month probationary period with the Astonville PSO Bureau. She
was in the top 10 percent of her graduating class from both the
police academy and the fire training academy. She is attractive,
single, and young. She is also a bit self-assured, not afraid to
speak her mind, and can hold her own with some of the more
flirtatious male officers with her no-nonsense demeanor.
Roberts has a lot of common sense and is capable of doing the
jobs of both policing and firefighting, as she has demonstrated
over the past six months. She graduated with a baccalaureate
degree in criminal justice from the state university. Although
she was offered jobs with other substantially larger

3. departments, she elected to take the job with Astonville. The
cross-training in police and firefighting is what attracted her to
the department.
Problem
Roberts was assigned to a field training officer (FTO) for her
six-month probationary period. Sergeant Williams, Roberts’
supervisor, assigned her to FTO Andrew Tibbetts. Sergeant
Williams had some doubts about assigning Roberts to Tibbetts.
After all, Roberts was an attractive young woman and Tibbetts,
although married with two children, is considered to be
something of a “ladies man.” Tibbetts is jokingly known as
“Adonis” by other officers because of his extreme neatness and
concern for his physical appearance. However, Roberts seemed
to be able to handle these types of men and Tibbetts was the
best FTO.
Roberts completed her field training and probationary period
with high evaluations from both FTO Tibbetts and Sergeant
Williams. And while Roberts is now on her own as a regular
member of the shift, she still relies heavily on Tibbetts for
advice and backup. Sergeant Williams also noticed a more than
friendly “bond” between the two and has overheard other
officers comment about seeing Tibbetts and Roberts kissing in
the police parking garage on occasion. In fact, Sergeant
Williams found the two having a heated argument in the parking
garage last week. When the sergeant intervened to find out what
was wrong, the two parted simply saying “nothing’s wrong.”
The sergeant assumed it was a “lover’s spat” and decided it was
none of his business so long as they both did their jobs.
The next day after roll call, Roberts stopped Sergeant Williams,
asking to meet with him. The sergeant escorted Roberts to the
supervisor’s office and asked her to sit down. Roberts refused to
sit but wanted to explain what the argument was about in the
parking garage between her and Tibbetts.
“Sergeant, I want you to know first. I’m pregnant. The baby
belongs to Tibbetts. He won’t leave his wife and won’t have
anything to do with me now.”

4. “Oh, Jane, I’m sorry to hear about that. But you know our
policy about pregnancy. You’ll have to take a leave of absence
and…”
“Damn your policies,” Jane interrupts. “This happened because
of you. It’s your fault. You put me with that ladies’ hound for
over six months. You knew what kind of man he was and how
vulnerable I was. You didn’t supervise us at all, just turned us
loose. And to top it off, I got pregnant on duty. I talked with a
lawyer friend of mine last night, and she said I could claim
workers’ compensation since my condition occurred on duty,
right under your nose.”
What Would You Do?
Who is at fault in this case? What recourse does Sergeant
Williams have at this point? What mistakes were made from the
beginning, and how can future situations like this be prevented?
Do you think Roberts has a workers’ compensation claim?