You are a police officer on duty at a highway checkpoint when a minister's car is stopped for routine inspection. At the same tim…

Decision Making & Ethics ·Previously asked in JKPSC Combined Competitive Examination (JKCCE) 2025

View the full solved paper: JKCCE Prelims 2025 - GS Paper II (Set B)

Question

You are a police officer on duty at a highway checkpoint when a minister's car is stopped for routine inspection. At the same time, you receive information that a child has gone missing nearby and immediate action is required. Your senior officer instructs you to prioritize escorting the minister instead of responding to the missing child report.

In this situation, what should you do?

  1. A. Obey your senior's instruction and escort the minister.
  2. B. Argue with your senior about the urgency of the child's case.
  3. C. Immediately deploy your team to search for the missing child while respectfully informing your senior about the situation. (Correct answer)
  4. D. Ignore the missing child case and follow your superior's order completely.

Correct Answer

Option C — Immediately deploy your team to search for the missing child while respectfully informing your senior about the situation.

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is Immediately deploy your team to search for the missing child while respectfully informing your senior about the situation..

Key Points

  • A missing child is a threat to life and is time-critical; protection duty outranks a protocol duty such as an escort.
  • The right course both acts on the emergency and keeps the chain of command intact by informing the senior officer respectfully.
  • This preserves discipline while ensuring the more serious risk is addressed first.

Additional Information

  • Option A and Option D subordinate a child's safety to a ceremonial task.
  • Option B wastes the very minutes that matter and turns an operational decision into a confrontation.
  • The first hours in a missing-child case are decisive, which is why standard police practice treats such reports as immediately actionable rather than routine.

*Ministry of Papers worked solution. The Commission has not yet published the official key for this paper; this answer will be reconciled with it on release.*

Topics covered: Decision Making Police Administration Worked Solution