For Sgt. Carrie Everett, it's a matter of principle.
When a 27-year-old accused of killing his girlfriend wriggled free of his shackles last October and leaped to his death from the 10th floor of Mercy Medical Center, Everett was shaken - but confident that she was not in violation of the department's general orders for keeping watch over a suicidal suspect.
Everett, who was a supervisor that day, and other officers would later be cited under a rule that "department members shall be held strictly responsible for the proper performance of their duties."
Using that vague and sweeping rule, Everett said, she was cited for violations that are not specifically noted in the general orders, or departmental guidelines.
Everett's ultimate punishment was, relatively speaking, a slap on the wrist. But as a former military officer with a spotless record, she has refused to accept it and says she has paid a price.
"I strive to do the right thing, and that's an attack on my character," said the Army veteran, who has been with the department since 1997.
Police have not responded to questions about the incident or about their procedures in cases where officers guard suicidal suspects.
Union officials say such charges are a long-used mechanism to punish officers whose conduct isn't covered by the general orders. Everett and Officer Wilbert Perez, who was assigned to the man, said that in their case, they were made scapegoats for an incident that drew negative attention to the Police Department but which they say was largely unpreventable.
"They've treated everybody unfair," said Perez, a rookie officer recruited from Puerto Rico who was assigned to watch Damon D. Smith that day. "They're trying to put it out there as if it was our fault. But they should change the way of doing things."
Everett says she has been harassed since the incident and that her personnel file improperly reflects that she accepted her punishment. A former internal affairs investigator, she is so concerned that she could be framed on what she believes are bogus charges that she has cleared out her locker and now dresses for work at home or in her vehicle.
"Once they've got a bead on you, when they get you in the crosshairs, they don't stop at nothing," Everett said
