Who Makes Property Standards? An Editorial From the time we started elementary school we have received grades on our work. As we aged, we progressed from striving for gold stars on our coloring pages, to pluses on our drawings, to "A's" on our tests, to "accepted" on our theses, to 64 exceptional" on our performance evaluations. The motivation to be recognized for outstanding performance seems to be innate, but it can only exist when there are values. The coloring gold star can only be awarded because "they" decided that coloring "should" be within the lines. "They" likewise decided that drawings "should" be lifelike, that test responses "should" match the material taught, and that theses "should" conform to standard measures for such research. Even at work, "they" tell us that it is good to be on time, pleasant, neat, and efficient, while it is bad to be the opposite. How would you behave if the standards were set or changed after you completed the work? Suppose you drew what you thought was a beautiful tree, and you got a minus because the teacher later decided that he would have preferred you draw a house. Suppose you completed a complicated staff report, and your boss criticized you because she later decided that your day would have been better spent cleaning out some old files? It is absolutely critical that we know what is
expected of us: right from wrong, as it were. As positive leaders we hope
that all of our employees want to do what is "right" or "good." All of
the management books say leaders should "establish the vision," and that
employees will then work toward it. Without the knowledge of what behavior
is valued as "good," we can't
As property and evidence rofessionals, we all want to do the job right. Therein lies the problem, because there is no definitive authority saying what is right, and what is wrong. Many of us do have at least our own policy manual, general orders, standard operating procedures or similar departmental guidelines. Having had the opportunity to be involved to a limited degree in a number of property room audits, however, I have observed that there is no "Bible" of the property room, even though it would be nice if there was a source on which we could all rely for policy guidance. On the west coast, the sources quoted most frequently regarding property room management seem to be the following:
Each future issue of the Evidence Log will address a particular area of policy. The first 1997 issue will be out in a couple of months, and will feature Organization and Staffing. The format for each issue's policy article will be to present "standards" from any available sources, including the ones listed above, and then to feature a discussion by I.A.P.E. President Joe Latta. Having taught property and evidence management for over ten years to professionals from over 1,500 departments located in almost every state of the union, Joe has developed a tremendous base of experience from which to share policies that work, and those that don't. Please help make this feature even better. Prior to March 15th, please e-mail or FAX to Joe Latta (at I.A.P.E.) the portion of any recognized state policy you may have access to which relates to organization and staffing the property and evidence function. Joe will combine that input with the knowledge and experiences gained through his decade of teaching and consulting experience, and the result will be some factual and documented guidelines for your use in policy development. Keep your eyes peeled for this column each quarter. It will be
a treasury of real “nuts and bolts” information. Copyright © 1999 International Association for Property and Evidence, Inc. Reprinted from the Evidence Log, Volume 1996, Number 2, Page 10 |
