No Neglected Post On His Watch!
This is another story about my colleague, Peter, the special man who works for the Swiss police. I wrote this story.
We have learned more about Peter. Peter is very intelligent and knows all of our procedures, even if they have nothing to do with his job. He lives alone and can drive. He is still mostly non-verbal and strongly prefers sign language. A police officer at another station has volunteered to translate when it is complex.
Peter is motivated by a strong sense of duty, even if something isn’t in his job description. This explains his actions in this story. When the post arrives, Peter greets the postman (in English, of course), sorts the post for each department, and leaves it for the departments to collect. Normally, they collect it.
Peter: “Hallo, Professor Post! Happy Thursday!”
Postman: *In English* “Hello, Peter! Here is the post.”
A certain corporal works in a team responsible for a small nearby town— shoplifting, graffiti, and so on. This corporal approaches me.
Corporal: “Peter was rude. He marched into my office, shouted, ‘You take post!’, slammed it on my desk, and walked off.”
Me: “That’s unusual. Let me know if it happens again.”
The next day, the same thing happens. The next week, several lieutenants have seen Peter get frustrated about the mail for [Small Town Team] — no other mail, just that team’s. He has been pestering them at every chance.
Lieutenant: “Is there something wrong here?”
Me: “Maybe. I will find out.”
I email Peter in German.
Me: “Hey, Peter. How is it going with the post for [Small Town Team]?”
He replies in English.
Peter: “Bad. Complicated. [Officer] helps.”
Me: “What do you mean?”
My phone rings later.
Officer: “Hi, I am [Officer]. I speak German Sign Language, and Peter has asked me to translate from German Sign Language to German.”
Me: “Right… Hey, Peter, did you borrow a police officer who knows sign language?”
Peter: “Ja!”
Me: “Okay, Peter… I don’t know where you found them, but return them to the library. Thank you, [Officer]. I am listening.”
Officer: “The lieutenant responsible for [Small Town] used to check his post every day. Then, he went off work because his mother died. After that, the post for [Small Town] wasn’t collected.”
Me: “But Peter only sorts the mail. Why is this still his problem?”
Officer: “Because we serve the Swiss people and nobody else has dealt with it.”
Me: “People, huh? There are corporals in that team working without their lieutenant.”
Officer: “Peter can see that the post for [Small Town] has not been collected. That means that nobody else is dealing with this. A resident of [Small Town] has been charged with assault and must appear in court on [date]. A police officer needs to deliver this summons to their apartment. What if we don’t do this?”
Me: “…the defendant won’t be in court, and the judge will want to know why? From us?”
Officer: “Yes. We will have to explain to the judge why we did not inform the defendant that he had to appear in court. We had the summons, but we did nothing about it. That’s our problem, and Peter knows that.”
Me: “I knew he was dedicated, but…”
Officer: “Basically, he harassed senior police officers until he saw somebody deal with it. He doesn’t care whether it is in his job description. Peter won’t take the risk that they won’t assault somebody else or lose their right to be informed of the charges. Contact me anytime.”
Those with managerial responsibility were reminded to arrange cover for posts. We now ask Peter whenever he gets annoyed about the post. Peter says he knows the situation with [Suspect], but he says he isn’t allowed to tell us.
