Editor’s Note: Anthony Gangi — who authors the Training Scenarios series — has recorded a Podcast with guest Gary York, which is available for purchase here. Topic of discussion is empathy vs. sympathy. Recently, discussion have been centered around the difference between empathy and sympathy. This dialogue with Gary is an effort to bring about a better understanding of both the above mentioned words. For corrections officers, one can be a tool and the other can jeopardize security.
How much do you trust an inmate that helps? If an officer becomes worried over a possible discipline, in relief, will they overlook possible security breach to alleviate a possible discipline? In this case, Officer Jones in 100 percent correct. Lost keys — no matter how quick they are found — should be reported.
During that brief moment they keys were lost, inmates could easily replicate those keys and utilize those manufactured keys as a way to escape. Centurion1950 states, “Oncoming officer did the right thing. Inmate should be handcuffed and immediately escorted out of the unit as soon as possible. Think about it. What did those keys give him access to and for how long? Depending on the answer to that question, you may also have to lock the unit down and do a complete and thorough search as well. The only reason I can think of as to why an inmate would return those keys is if he/she/they had stolen controlled items and hoped the officer, fearing discipline and embarrassment, would not report the incident.”
The abovementioned statement goes in accordance with the multiple responses that were given by our correctional peers. Hoopnasty states, “Well done by the relief officer in sending the inmate to lock up.” Gedeondj states, “Jones is right. I’m going with full lockdown and search of the unit. I wonder how long this officer was missing his keys, and why he didn’t report it.”
Some believe that Officer Smith should have at least questioned the inmate. Daywilli states, “Definitely is worth investigation. Questioning such as where did you find the keys? When? And if it did not just happen, why did he take so long to return them? The inmate’s action of going to the officer and placing the keys on the desk, sort of knowing the officer ‘had lost the keys’ is awfully suspicious.”
There are even some who believe that Officer Smith should have went a step further and lock the inmate down. WChase1969 states, “Officer Smith should have immediately locked the unit down and notified the Shift Supervisor upon realizing his keys were missing. Officer Jones actions were absolutely correct.”
We also must mention the importance of key control. I believe zshadow states it best, “Key control, people! That is the most basic and important part of our job. My institution requires us to wear a “correction’s chain” attached to our duty belt via metal spring clip keepers to secure our keys. Simply letting our keys out of our hands and or off our chain is an instant write up.”
They also continue to state, “As a CO, there should be zero trust of the inmate population. Although the inmate returned the keys, in our facility, it would have been an instant write up for possession of unauthorized equipment or tools and locked down for up to 60 days. The inmate most likely should know that and therefore should have left the keys where they were if that was the case. In my eyes there should have been no ‘err on caution. It was a violation of facility code on the inmates part and a violation of policy and procedure on the CO’s part.”
Overall, Officer Smith’s worries could have easily led to a security breach. Officer Jones did what he had to do so he could protect the integrity of the facility. For this scenario, Officer Jones did the right thing, “He erred on the side of caution.”