Chapter 16 - The Supervisor
Internal Affairs found no department-wide conspiracy.
This was important enough that I made everyone repeat it.
Derek had friends.
Some defended him.
One officer had improperly mentioned Harper’s first report to him informally.
That officer received discipline for confidentiality failure.
Not a criminal conspiracy.
A sergeant had classified one prior domestic call poorly.
Review found inadequate documentation but no evidence he intentionally covered for Derek.
Training followed.
The strongest misconduct belonged to Derek himself.
Unauthorized database access.
Using duty time to check Harper’s records.
Initiating the welfare check involving his ex-wife without disclosing the conflict fully.
Using department email once to contact a school administrator about Noah despite having no legal parental authority.
That last one shocked Harper.
“What did he ask?”
Whether Noah had been absent.
School administrator did not provide detailed records because Derek was not guardian.
Good system.
She documented the request.
Another trail.
Derek’s commanding officer, Captain Elaine Ross, testified later that once the pattern was clear:
“We should have identified the conflict earlier.”
Not:
We all knew.
No giant blue wall conspiracy.
Some institutional deference.
Some mistakes.
One corrupt officer exploiting normal access.
That was enough.
Harper had believed the entire department belonged to Derek because Derek needed her to believe it.
Truth was less cinematic.
And more hopeful.
There were people inside the system willing to document him once evidence reached the right place.
May you like
The problem was getting there safely.
────────────────────
