Almost half of the population in the United States of America has been proved to be meeting their lifetime partners from their respective placed of work. That population also includes the hardworking police officers of the nation. In most cases, not all the employees would be happy for such a thing to take place in their various organizations. There are some employers who even go to the extent of issuing requirements that requires such workmates to sign a love contract that shows that they will abide by the rules and regulations of the company. The only problem with most of the companies as well as the police departments is that they do not have stipulated laws either formal or informal. Therefore such relations normally are left to blossom at the risk of the company’s prosperity. The same does apply to our police department that has a number of patrol units.
One of the night patrol units in our department has been significantly affected by the intimate relationship that is alleged to be brewing between two professional officers. One of the most notable negative influences that such a relation has had is that the busiest sector unit is experiencing a massive drop in its productivity. The intimate relation is alleged to be taking place between one of the married police officers and a single young female. According to the investigations that have been conducted over a period of two months, we have been able to establish that the two are indeed lovebirds. As a department, we have noted the ongoing relation between the two officer and abrupt actions have to be taken in order to save the department from problems in the future. We all know that relationships normally tend to be very romantic and interesting at their beginning points. However, when they get to the levels where the partners want to separate, it normally becomes worse because the two may not even work together. In order to avoid such embarrassments and difficulties in the future, the department has to come up with policies that govern such relations within the unit.
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The intimate relations between the two officers can indeed affect the culture of the patrol units of the police. If they are left to continue with their romantic relations, the rest of the unit members may take it to be a normal tradition within that unit. What will then happen is that the rest of the officers will also start adopting the same behavior pattern (Yarmey, 1990).
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The number of romantic relations between the officers will be on the rise in the near future. Ultimately what will happen is that the patrol duties will be turned in to romantic dates where officers will only focus on getting their sexual desires satisfied at the expense of keeping their regions safe. In the event that no patrol work takes place especially at night, the number of burglaries within the cities will be on the rise. Additionally, the public might as well lose its confidence on the police unit. There is nothing as dangerous as the public losing its confidence on the police officers because if that happens then there is no way that the police will ever get vital intelligence information (Yarmey, 1990). Apart from that, those who get into the intimate relation may start giving one another certain undeserving favors to one another within the work environments. For instance, if one of the partners needs to be absent from work without a valid reason, the other partner can easily guarantee the other partner. In case of division of police resources, one of the partners may get a favor to be one of those who get the resources even in the event where their names could be missing as one of the beneficiaries.
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Finally, such relations do affect the cultures of the police patrol units because it will eventually lead to a reduction in productivity by a margin of approximately 22 %. Moreover, the relations will have a negative effect on the working relation with the other team members. The more serious consequence is that it will damage the entire working relation environment by a margin close to 28 %. The romantic relations will in the long run have a way of disrupting the dynamics of the teams. When such relations turn sour, the ultimate effect is the two officers will no longer be able to work effectively as a team.
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The above mentioned dangers could then trigger stress to the other officers apart from the one who gets affected directly. An officer who is paired to work with a colleague whom they once had a romantic relation may not give his all to his duties. The stress of having to work with an ex partner may not only affect such an officer but also affect the families of that officer (Borum and Philpot, 1993). One of the most notable effects is the inability for an officer to regulate their emotions which may lead to massive destructions. If such high levels of stress are not controlled in good time, it may lead to depression. Eventually such a person may get himself or herself getting into post-traumatic stress disorder (Haisch, D., & Meyers, L. (2004).
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Policies measures include prohibiting romantic relations between workmates either within or outside their areas of jurisdiction. Secondly it should be a policy that any two individuals found to be taking part in a romantic affair while on duty will be suspended for an indefinite period. Finally, it should be a law that during such period when an officer is suspended, they do not receive their payments.
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