Report of Offense Processing

2-4 involving enlisted personnel starts in town, you must help in quieting the disturbance, whether an officer is present or not. If you face such a situation and you do your job to the best of your ability, you can be proud. If an enlisted person violates a regulation in the presence of both an officer and a petty officer, the petty officer should correct the person. Failing to correct the person could result in a reprimand for the petty officer. Figure 2-1 shows three official sources for basic disciplinary laws. The UCMJ is an appendix of the Manual for Courts-Martial. Figure 2-1.—Three official sources for basic disciplinary laws. The best form of discipline is positive action geared to prevent disciplinary problems before they happen. Effective leaders use that type of discipline to help persons understand the need for regulations and the need to abide by them. To receive loyalty and willing obedience from those under you, you must set an example of high personal standards and moral conduct. In setting a proper example for your people, how can you report somebody for being out of uniform if you show up at muster looking like you have slept in your uniform for 3 days? If you show up late for muster, reporting one of your people for showing up late would be unfair. So, you must set the example and maintain the highest standards for your people to follow. Remember, the way you act is also the way your people will act. Each time a petty officer helps a shipmate keep a clean record, that PO is living up to the highest traditions of the Navy. Except for major infractions of the UCMJ, putting people on report should be done only as a last resort. You always should try other methods of correction—appeal to pride, disapproval of special requests (which emphasizes that approval of special requests is for the more deserving), encourage team spirit, and so forth—first. Only after you try other methods of correction and those fail should you place an enlisted person on report for a minor offense. The Navy has personnel of high caliber who can be trusted and who do their work well. However, many of them will at some time commit an infraction, such as accidentally being out of uniform, being a couple of minutes late to quarters, or failing to salute an officer. You would be unwise to place people on report for trivial offenses. You should use initiative and common sense to help keep them out of trouble. Repeatedly putting persons on report for minor infractions reflects on your leadership ability, and you will soon find yourself heartily disliked by personnel under you. On the other hand, the "good guy" who tries to maintain popularity and never reports a person is a menace to discipline and a nuisance to all petty officers. Report of Offense Processing In spite of your best efforts and those of the division officer, some personnel will be, among other things, insubordinate, indifferent to wearing the proper uniform, and lax in relieving watches on time. Some also will malinger or fight. Those are the people who must be put on report, unpleasant though it may be. All you are doing is reporting to the commanding officer a violation of military order or discipline; the captain decides whether to punish the person. Placing a person on report (starting a charge against the individual) means letting the proper authority (CO, XO, CDO, OOD, legal officer, military police, security or MAA force, or any superior in the chain of command) know about the apparent misconduct. Your notification can be oral or in the form of a written report chit. If your command has a locally prepared report chit, you should use that form; otherwise, you can use the standard Navy report chit, Report and Disposition of Offense(s), NAVPERS 1626/7, as shown in figure 2-2. Whichever form you use, make your report as complete, accurate, and specific as possible.