I see this in cop shows all the time, enough that I’m pretty sure it happens in real life. A couple of cops do all of the work to catch a crook, then some other cops swoop in and make the actual arrest. The first cops get mad because the other ones got “the collar.”
Why? What does it matter, so long as the crook is caught? Is it a pride thing, or is there some sort of monetary or professional reward for making the actual arrest?
You don’t get promoted if you never make arrests.
I think it has to do with public perception. (ETA: the situation I am thinking of is when a federal agency swoops in for the kill).
If local police do all the investigation and lay the legal groundwork, then the FBI swoop in and score the bad guys, in the newspaper it says “FBI Ends Drug Ring” and what it doesn’t say is “Local Police Very Diligent And Necessary to FBI’s Success.”
I think it’s normal to be annoyed when you do all the work, and someone else, who essentially sat by, gets all the credit. It might not have any direct reward to get the credit, but the esteem of the public is pretty significant for the police department as a whole. One good way to get the public on your side is to solve crimes that are important to the populace. One way to get the public not on your side is to be perceived as ineffective.
No it doesn’t matter. At all. And the feds are not perched somewhere ready to swoop down. They have clearly defined areas in which they have jurisdiction. When things that fall under their purview come up their assistance is accepted gladly. They have more resources. If it is my case it still says “Closed by arrest”. Thats all that matters.
Job performance evaluation - the main number they can look at is “how many crimes did you solve”, i.e. how many arrests? In the complex investigation level of crime, it may take weeks of analysis and set-up to actually arrest a group. If basically you flush a few weeks’ work down the drain because someone else swooped in… that would not look good on the resume. Plus, how come it took you weeks and this other guy jumped in and grabbed them in days?
of course it’s not just the arrest, but the collection of evidence that goes along with it, which better be sufficient to convict the guy.
This is true in any job isn’t it? Once the work is done there are plenty of people who are willing to step forward and do the onerous task of handing the report to the boss. Even if there is no known, direct pay off, one has to be suspicious of someone who insists on doing the last step of a project that is 99% done.
Or, to paraphrase Dogbert, “here, let me put my cover sheet on your report.”
I would argue that the more often something happens in the cop shows, the less likely it is to happen in real life. Hollywood’s correct portrayal of the police is second only to their grasp of basic science.
Would love to see some cites.