Whistleblowers
‘Whistleblower’ reports often catch my eye. I often read these tales of life within organizations with a mixture of fascination (they reflect what the organization is really like rather than how it appears on the outside) and horror (what is revealed invariably takes your breath away).
And so it is with the comments being made by a constable (a police officer of the lowest rank in the UK). He has said that:
Four thoughts strike me:
Tags: blow the whistle burglaries constable damage figures fascination horror lost property mixture mobile phone performance police officer priority treatment reported theft rock and a hard place shoplifting sobering thought statistics targets true performance whistle whistleblower
And so it is with the comments being made by a constable (a police officer of the lowest rank in the UK). He has said that:
- every single reported theft of a mobile phone is recorded as lost property
- attempted burglaries get reported as criminal damage
- figures are manipulated. For example, a good month’s detection rates are ‘carried over’ into a poorer month to smooth out the numbers
- shoplifting is an ‘easy detection’ so that gets priority treatment
- there are not enough people so crime isn’t properly investigated.
Four thoughts strike me:
- organizations that operate on behalf of the Government will have the usually negative effect of politics acting on them. I pity the leaders, caught as they are between a rock and a hard place
- companies should be more transparent. It should not have to take a whistleblower to reveal true performance
- once again, here’s the effect within organizations of poorly constructed targets adversely influencing behavior
- and… once again, folks… lies, damned lies and statistics.
A final sobering thought for leaders. What practices might an employee or former employee blow the whistle on in your business?
Tags: blow the whistle burglaries constable damage figures fascination horror lost property mixture mobile phone performance police officer priority treatment reported theft rock and a hard place shoplifting sobering thought statistics targets true performance whistle whistleblower
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