Scenario 1 of 10 · Courage
A joke in the canteen
In the canteen, a colleague you get on well with makes a joke about the mental health condition of a victim from a case earlier in the week. Two others laugh; one looks uncomfortable. Nobody else says anything.
- A Say nothing for now. It was only canteen banter, nobody has complained and challenging it in front of the others would make the room awkward.
- B Speak to the colleague privately soon afterwards, say why the joke wasn't acceptable and check they understand.
- C Report the colleague to Professional Standards straight away without speaking to them first.
- D Tell the colleague loudly, in front of everyone, that they should be ashamed.
Show the model ratings and reasoning
- A. Ineffective (2). Silence signals the remark is acceptable and the uncomfortable colleague sees nobody backing standards. It doesn't make things worse in the moment, but it does nothing to put them right.
- B. Very effective (5). Challenges the behaviour directly and early, protects the working relationship and gives the colleague a fair chance to put it right. This is proportionate courage.
- C. Slightly effective (3). The conduct matters and reporting isn't wrong, but going straight there for a single remark skips a proportionate first step. It becomes the right route if it's repeated or they don't accept the feedback.
- D. Ineffective (2). It does challenge the remark, but humiliating someone in public tends to make them defensive rather than reflective. Courage means challenging the behaviour, not staging a confrontation.
- Reasoning pattern: Speak up early and directly. Challenge poor conduct or wrong information at the earliest sensible point, calmly and to the right person. These are PolicePay's model ratings, not the College's answer key.