2-7 USING JUDGMENT IN REPORTING VIOLATIONS The  need  for  using  good  judgment  is  vital  in reporting violations. Some violations are minor in nature and some are major. As a petty officer, you need to become familiar with separating the two. Good judgment ability is not an inherited trait. You must develop it over a period of time. You have to develop the ability to decide and to form an opinion objectively when you report violations of the UCMJ. The judgment you use may affect the rest of a person’s naval career. You are going to see violations of the UCMJ every day. Some will be minor and some will be major. If you see a violation, stop for a minute to think before you act. You cannot smile away a violation one day and rebuke it the next. Under these conditions personnel don’t know where they stand. At times you need only offer a word of caution to correct a problem. At other times you may need to take more action. Study  your  personnel,  watch  them,  learn  their language and points of view, work with them, guide them, and counsel them. Then, you can commend the good personnel and, as often as you must, report the bad ones without fear or favor. If you were to report minor violations all the time, you would  bog  down  our  justice  system;  and  your effectiveness   as   a   leader   would   rapidly   decline. Remember  to  stop  and  think  before  you  act.  Use discretion in reporting a violation. Violations That Should Be Reported Remember, a violation is a violation and should not go unanswered. At times your judgment as a petty officer comes into play. You need to take a hard look at the violation and see if it warrants reporting. Some examples of offenses that normally warrant reporting (major violations) are as follows: Assault of a superior commissioned officer or willful  disobedience  of  a  superior  commis- sioned officer’s orders Disrespect towards a superior commissioned officer Being drunk while on duty Drunken or reckless driving Willful destruction of government property Those are only a few of the violations you must report. For a complete picture of the violations you must report, examine the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Doing so will help you recognize offenses which are major violations. Violations That Should Not Be Reported Now that you have read about some of the major violations  you  should  report,  consider  some  minor violations you should not report. These simply involve inadequate behavior that stems from not doing the job or meeting standards. Some examples are as follows: Being late from time to time for routine muster Falling down on the job from time to time and also lack of attention to nonvital details Occasionally not completing work on time This type of behavior usually is not serious enough for placing a person on report. However, it does require some  form  of  action  by  you,  such  as  counseling, lowering of evaluations, extension of working hours, or withholding of special privileges for a time. Be mindful that this type of behavior is usually minor in nature but also may be the beginning of a behavior pattern leading to something more serious. Reporting minor offenses that are not habitual or extreme burdens the legal system unnecessarily  and  tells  your  superiors  you  are  not fulfilling your responsibility as a leader to counsel and discipline  your  subordinates.  That  does  not  mean reporting an offender shows a failure on your part. Just be sure you have done everything in your power to straighten out an offender before placing him or her on report for repeated minor offenses. REVIEW 2 QUESTIONS Q1. Why  is  it  important  to  inform  the  chain  of command on matters pertaining to good order and discipline?