Success is Sweet – Dealing with Employee Misconduct, Not So Much

After 21 years of service in law enforcement in Kansas City, Missouri, Stephanie Price was selected as the deputy chief of police for the city of Savannah, Georgia. Soon thereafter, in September 2020, she applied for and was selected as the first female police chief of the town of Bluffton, South Carolina. She was the town’s fourth police chief in three years and took the reins of the department at a difficult time following the death of George Floyd in May 2020. However, it was her attempt to terminate the employment of a ranking, long-serving officer in the department that created a crisis for her leadership. This case (1) explores the types of misconduct that can occur in the workplace, (2) describes the incidents that led to her recommendation to terminate a ranking officer, (3) asks what she could have done differently, and (4) seeks a plan outlining what she can do to repair relationships with fellow officers and town leaders after her actions are revealed.