The 3 Most Important Questions in Supervisor Liability

(1) What Should You Know?

(2) When Should You Know It?

(3) What Should You Do?

For FTOs and first-line supervisors, Chiefs and Sheriffs, and everything in between, these 3 questions underpin virtually all legal claims of supervisor liability and agency liability facing law enforcement agencies across the country. When being deposed or questioned on the stand regarding allegations of officer misconduct or negligence, supervisors are essentially required to answer these 3 questions in a variety of contexts ranging from hiring to training to supervision to discipline.

It is vitally important that supervisors can answer these 3 questions in a way that is both honest and defensible in light of their professional, ethical, and legal obligations to protect and serve the public. A crucial part of answering these questions often involves providing documentation that supports the assertion that an individual supervisor did everything that they reasonably could to address performance issues before an incident of serious misconduct ever occurs.

In this two-hour webinar, Attorney Matt Dolan will review case studies of supervisor liability to illustrate the various ways that supervisors either expose themselves to liability or minimize it—depending on how they are able to answer these 3 key questions.