Table of Contents •Foreword F •Pages 1 - 6 •Supervisor Vocabulary List 1 •Pages 7 - 20 •General Orders 2 •Pages 21 - 116 •Police Commissioner's Memorandums 3 •Pages 117 - 130 •Training Guidelines 4 •Pages 131 - 134 •Digest of Criminal Laws 5 •Pages 135 - 146 •Miscellaneous 6 •Pages 147 - 156 •Law Enforcement Management 7 •Pages 157 - 278 •The Written Test 8 •Pages 279 - 322 •The Oral Board 9 •Pages 323 - 354 •The Oral Board Scenarios 10 •Pages 355 - 414 We can never get anything accomplished on our own, which is why I do not wear any pins above my badge, and why this guide is dedicated to all the law enforcement supervisors that stood up with integrity and their families that gave them the support to do so. We will need the support of our families to prepare ourselves for promotional testing and that is why that reminder is the first thing in this guide. Disclosure This guide is a collection of the notes that I have taken over time and must be viewed as such. When taking any legal action it is necessary to refer to the current original source which is legally binding. While I stand behind the accuracy of the information contained in this guide, all policies, laws and procedures are subject to change at any given moment. This guide is intended for the promotional process, not as a legal reference. Other than the areas that are obviously my words, speaking in first person, most of the material contained herein is an organized collection of the things I have been taught and the notes taken during that learning. My studies from Kaplan University (Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement B.S.), UMUC Leadership Certificate Program, Baltimore City Community College, BPD Sergeant’s Leadership Course, Marine Corps Institute, and Army Institute of Professional Development, my experiences as a United States Marine Corps Sergeant and Baltimore Police Department member, and my reading of the materials in the reference section all contributed to the information contained. Foreword Foreword While I was with my first and only squad as a Sergeant, in the Eastern District, there was a moment when I was sitting with my Lieutenant discussing various aspects of policing, as we often did. This particular Lieutenant, although I have been with many supervisors that I respected and some that I loathed, remains the member of the department that I respect the most. We came upon the subject of who on our shift would make Sergeant on the upcoming test. The Lieutenant began naming a few potential candidates, many of whom would have made excellent Sergeants. I laughed at him and stated that there was no way any of them would make Sergeant, because they were either aggressive Eastern District style (i.e. real police) police, more concerned with the art of their craft then getting promoted, or they simply lacked the initiative, intelligence, and / or desire. The Lieutenant made attempts in roll call to provide practice test questions and provide a level of education to prepare the shift as a whole. While preparing one of the practice tests he wrote a question; which four things constitute an arrest? He asked me how many officers would get this basic question right; I guessed none and was right once again. The correct answer is (an intent to arrest, real or pretended authority, detention of person, detention is understood by person). I continued to doubt that questions would be answered correctly because I felt that the environment of the Eastern, and the department as a whole, had become so arrest oriented and not conviction oriented that officers became skilled in how to arrest versus how to convict. We lost that professionalism and the Lieutenant and I were too small, too unimportant to change that. The Sergeant’s test came and went with few officers passing the written let alone getting through the oral and being promotable. There was one officer however; that I thought would make a good Sergeant. He had the courage to consistently stand up for the right thing, instead of following the status quo, and was a very effective 1 Foreword covert leader. I saw myself in him in that manner, because I always viewed myself in the same mold, which has gotten me in plenty of trouble with some supervisors, but especially as a Sergeant that is our role. It is the Sergeant’s role to speak up for their officers and stand firm to accomplish the right thing. It was around this time that I began to realize that it is also the Sergeant’s role, my role, to lead those types of officers in their training in the promotional process. It was our failure that none of those officers on that shift were promoted; it was us who let them down. Sure, I did it on my own without any help from supervisors, but that certainly was no excuse for me to expect the same. For far too long, information has been protected by successful supervisors in this department, we all know it. Those that knew how to get through the testing seemed to protect that information and give it only to those that they liked and were close with. It is time for that to end. I became convinced that I had to find a way to change that. The materials and education needed to get through the promotional process had to get through to anyone motivated to move up the ladder. False assumptions run rampant through this department just like the rumor mill. Officers do not apply for certain positions because they think they do not have a chance of making it, just as many do not take promotional tests, or apply themselves appropriately, because they do not think they can make it. I had to find a way to pull back the curtain on the process. When I began to study for the Lieutenant’s test I realized that this was my opportunity to document the process and create the educational materials needed, and to create a single source for promotional preparation. I teamed up with my great friend and former Violent Crime Impact Division partner, James Shawn Glanville, and we began the process of creating this guide. It was a daunting project, but it would kill two birds with one stone as it had to also help me study for the Lieutenant’s test. This guide cannot make you motivated to study and apply yourself to getting promoted, and motivation is a huge factor, but 2 Foreword everything you need other than that is here. When it comes to motivation consider a few things that should help you with that motivation. I will start with the most universal, money. Without getting into overtime, pay raises, benefits, and so forth let us look at the difference in pay. Keep in mind that pay raises are usually done in percentages which only makes the gap grow. Using this guide, you can define your career path much better than how I did mine. I graduated from the academy in December of 2004, was promoted to Sergeant in June of 2009. I joined at 23 years of age and suppose a retirement at 43, death at 81. At this time, I will make at least $426,591 more than I would have as an officer. With a promotion to Lieutenant in 2013 I would make at least $729,630 more than I would as an officer. Three quarters of a million dollars should be serious motivation. That is an incredibly nice house, college for your children, vacations every year, ten corvettes, trips to the super bowl, enough money to make a significant change in life style. You owe that to yourself, your spouse, your children, or whoever else you provide for. Backing up your criticisms is another motivation. We have all sat there and complained about our supervisor, marveled at how someone unworthy was promoted, and moaned about how we could do it better. Well whose fault is it that we have a bad supervisor, that someone unworthy was promoted, or why we are not the ones doing it better? It is OUR fault, no one else’s. It is our fault because we did not do it; we let some excuse get in our way. There is a certain amount of professionalism that we let slip from our department. Now is the time to eliminated those excuses, the things you need are right here, the only thing that can stop you is yourself. Take this guide, learn it, live it, make it become everything you think about. Know our rules, regulations, laws, and procedures inside and out. Then when you get promoted remember what helped you get there and do not make the mistakes I made at first. Lead your officers and teach them every last thing that you know. Once those stripes are on you, remember my biggest lesson in leadership. Those stripes DO NOT make you respected and they do not make you a leader. Only you can make yourself a respected leader; those stripes are 3 Foreword just podiums for the opportunity to be better than all of those before you. Listen to your officers and make the squad a team, motivate them, you will never effectively lead police with an iron fist. You can only lead police with earned respect, earned, and not handed to you by the Commissioner and at the Quartermaster. In order for true leadership to grow, we must look in the mirror and face our failures. We cannot be afraid to make mistakes because rarely is anything learned from success; it is in the failures that we learn.