How Frontline Supervisors Shape Priorities: Evidence from Police Lieutenants

We study how frontline supervisors shape outcomes in public organizations with competing objectives and limited monitoring. We examine lieutenants in the Chicago Police Department, exploiting its rotational operations calendar for identification. We document dispersion in lieutenant fixed effects on arrests and find race to be a key predictor. We then compare days Black and Hispanic lieutenants are predicted on duty to days supervised by white lieutenants. Teams under Black and Hispanic lieutenants make fewer low-level arrests and modestly reduce 911 dispatch time. Differences in overtime and award decisions are consistent with lieutenants shaping behavior through anticipated approval and soft incentives.