Ethical Behavior in Law Enforcement Officers

The subject of ethics is important for all people on the planet. This is especially true in law enforcement because ethics should be the standard by which all individuals perform. Police officers are expected to be above reproach. They are expected, by the public, to be exemplary, to display such character as to be above all the things that would corrupt a lesser individual. I have interviewed two police officers in my home town, Pasadena, Texas. The two I spoke to were Officer James McGinty of the Pasadena Police Department, and Sgt. Peter Gonzales of the Pasadena Independent School District Police force. Their responses to specific questions are addressed in my paper, along with my own interpretation of what they replied. When I spoke with these two gentlemen, I got a distinct feeling that both were quite proud of their ethical choices, and felt confident that they were doing their best as police officers.

Officer 1: James McGinty, Patrolman, Pasadena Police Department.

When interviewing Patrolman McGinty, I found the following to be his impressions of the police force in general. Officer McGinty spoke of why ethics and character are important in the field of law enforcement. His response was that ethics and character go hand in hand. In law enforcement it seems that there are so many reasons to do the right thing. The reasons begin by public opinion and also should include their influence on the youth who will be growing up to be citizens of the city, state, or country. If a police officer does not behave with good character he is not a good example, and may, in fact, become a bad example for a child to believe is acceptable. To uphold the law, one must be able to look above all the things that could influence them to behave poorly. If an officer allows someone to change their outlook in a negative way, whether it is a criminal, a family member, or even another police officer, then they are not displaying good character.

Ethics are as important, if not more important, than character. One can display an incredible character, but when it comes time to follow the rules of ethics, the temptations of simple favors by the law-abiding citizens of the community can sway an officer's choices, and can cause them to make a poor choice. Even the slightest favor from someone can lead to a dangerous future occurrence. If a citizen provides freebies for a police officer, then the officer is expected to provide special favors for the citizen. This can be expected in forms of protection, additional police presence, or even something disreputable like "fixing" a ticket, or letting them off with a warning instead of a ticket. Most people do not give things without expecting something in return.

When Officer McGinty was asked if he felt that police officers are more ethical today or were they more ethical ten years ago, he replied: "I do feel that police officers are more ethical today. With additional education and with better guidance, police are given more tools and information in order to behave in a more ethical manner" (2007). He went on to say that, ten years ago, police officers were not watched as closely, police officers were also not expected to uphold as many of the ethical standards as today. At one time a free cup of coffee or a nice hot meal were accepted by the police as gratuities that they deserved for providing services to a community. It is known now that by accepting these gratuities police are being bribed, in a manner of speaking, to create additional sense of well being for those who are giving the gifts. These rules may have been in force for more than a decade, but more stress is being placed on ethics, to keep these things from happening now. Delattre, when speaking of the slippery slope of corruption, says that it begins with small things which lead to larger actions until the actions become criminal in themselves (pg. 79, 2006).

Addressing the subject of police officers who get involved in misconduct, Officer McGinty had the following remarks. "The police officers I have known who got involved in misconduct did so because they were disgruntled. They felt annoyed with their life; they get distressed with their family" (2007). Delattre supports this statement by paraphrasing Arthur Niederhoffer; "police loss of faith in mankind generally spawns individual and departmental corruption" (pg. 81, 2006). Many police officers find that they are unable to make ends meet with their salaries. In high crime cities where the cost of living is high, police find that they are unable to pay their bills because the rent and the utilities are much too expensive and are not covered by their inadequate salary. Also in the large cities police officers find many times that they can get away with some misconduct, like police brutality, or skimming money from a drug bust. "It seems no one is going to stop a policeman from beating a criminal who has been selling drugs to their kids; no one is going to notice a little money missing out of a bag of hundred dollar bills from a cocaine bust. They don't know how much was there in the first place. 'No one will miss it'" (McGinty, 2007).

When asked if he felt that there is enough training offered in ethics at the police academy level the reply was that there is enough initial training offered in ethics for police at the academy level. To try to put too much information into the head of a person who is trying to learn all the laws and all the ethics, and maintain character traits that are necessary in order to be an exemplary officer, it is probably overwhelming already. In Chapter 10 of Character and Cops by Edwin J. Delattre, the text states that "Instruction in ethics for police has to be more specific, precise, and respectful of time limits" (pg. 162, 2006). Ethics can also be taught or reinforced after the initial academy training by the partners that are provided to the officer. If a refresher training course is offered after an officer has been on the force for a year or two, it would be more benefit to them than an initial inundation of the information.

I also asked Officer McGinty if ethics training should be offered as an on-going process for law enforcement officers. He answered me by saying that one can never know too much, you can never know it all. In order to continue to recall, or learn new methods to deal with every day situations and unique situations, one must continue to advance their knowledge; they must try to maintain a high level of education. A formal sitting is a good way to teach new ideas that have come up due to new problems that may arise or new more successful methods of dealing with everyday issues that need to be handled. I feel that Officer McGinty has an open mind, and is willing to do whatever it takes to improve his own knowledge of ethical behavior, and would like to see this be a station-wide practice.

I see police officers every day that are not living in entirely ethical ways. They need refreshers and reminders, because there are temptations all over the place that cause the behavior of police officers to back-slide into less than ethical ways. Unfortunately, as Edwin J. Delattre points out in the text, "such scholars are not necessarily persons of good character" (pg. 162, 2006) Meaning that ethics can be trained, but the student must be of good character who is willing to accept the training, and perform in the ethical manner in which they are being taught.

In concluding my interview with Officer McGinty, I inquired; do you feel that education and/or training in ethics would reduce incidents of police corruption? He thought a few moments about this question before he answered me. His response was that he believes that training would help to reduce the amount of corruption. He believes that a lot of corruption comes from lack of information. If police officers do not have any training or input from others in how they are expected to behave, then their only source of information is their own belief structure from their personal experiences. When an officer is trained with ethical knowledge they have a better foundation in which to develop ethical behaviors. Unfortunately though some people are just unscrupulous, and will be corrupt no matter how much education and training is provided. These people do not have any place in police work and need to be removed from their prospective forces as quickly as they are identified as troublemakers who will not change with training.

During my interview with Officer James McGinty, I found that he was of very good character. He showed patience and understanding as I spoke with him, and he took the time to answer my questions with thought and interest. He showed good character, and even refused my offer to buy him a soda while I was conducting the interview with him. I did not hear him speak with disdain toward anyone he has had the pleasure or misfortune to come across. He gives the impression that he believes that most people are inherently good, with the potential for great things. I found him to be a bit idealistic, but he is relatively new, and still in his early twenties in age. He has not had the opportunity to be either corrupted by poor attitudes, or he truly does display the exemplary character that all police officers should be showing. I hope it is the latter.

Officer 2: Peter Gonzales, Sgt. Pasadena Independent School District Officer.

I asked the same six questions of Sgt. Gonzales that I asked of Officer McGinty. The first question was: why are ethics and character so important in the field of law enforcement?

Sgt. Gonzales provided me with some examples of his stance on good character and ethics. To paraphrase his answer, he said; in this field a person is dealing with a lot of potential for corruption. For instance say you are an officer and you bust someone who has a lot of drugs on them. You can be ethical and be of good character and turn the drugs in when the guy is arrested or you can take the drugs, re-sell them and make a profit for yourself. Or, say you are an officer and you are arresting someone who is being very mouthy and making you mad. You can be ethical and of good character by ignoring him, placing cuffs on him and putting him in the car or you can beat the crap out of him. It is important to do the right thing because as law enforcement officials we are supposed to be role models for everyone else. It is hypocrisy to not do what you expect citizens to do. "I work for the school district and we are held to a higher standard than the students because we are supposed to be showing them, through our actions, what it is like to live in society, by that I mean follow the laws, go to work, have car insurance, have morals and ethics, etc. If you were a police officer and had to arrest someone for using drugs and yet you were using drugs on your time off, it would be so wrong because it should not be okay for you but not for someone else, it is against the law for everyone" (Gonzales, 2007).

My second question to Sgt. Gonzales was: do you feel that police are more ethical today or were they more ethical ten years ago? Sgt. Gonzales believes that police officers are more ethical today than ten years ago. Why? Because there are a lot more people watching the police now than back then. They also know that most of the time they are on a camera, being watched, or recorded for future review. I believe that what Sgt. Gonzales was saying here is that technology has a new way of policing everyone, and making sure that they do what they are required to do by checks and balances that were not in effect even a decade ago. With more people paying attention to what police officers are doing, and advances like video cameras and camera phones, everyone is being watched, and this does not exclude police officers. The problem with this thought for ethical behavior is that it is prompted by fear of being caught, and not the good character of the police in general (Delattre, 2006).

Why do police officers become involved in misconduct? Sgt. Gonzales was specific with his answer to this question. He said when a police officer takes the oath and desires to provide a secure environment for the community sometimes things still can go wrong in his personal life which can affect his personality. Money issues become a headache. He provided the following example; an officer shows up to work with a chip on his shoulder and the first call of the day is a family dispute. A large African American man is beating up on his girlfriend. The police arrive on the scene and the guy is arguing with his significant other but is not witnessed doing any other abuse. The woman is bleeding where he allegedly punched her. The guy approaches the officer with a bad attitude and so the officer pulls out his stun gun and zaps the man a few times even after he is convulsing on the ground. Back-up officers arrive and then they begin punching the downed man in the stomach, shouting at him to hold still. After a few elbows to his head the suspect is subdued. The man now needs medical attention and treatment because of a broken nose. After an investigation, the officers are suspended without pay pending an investigation as to why such forceful abuse was needed to subdue one unarmed man. Misconduct may vary from officer to officer. In the above situation, one of the officers may have found out that his wife has gotten pregnant from an African American man and now he is on the warpath. The man chose a bad day to hit his girlfriend but the police officers also did not show good judgment and showed poor character in their apprehension of this subject (Gonzales, 2007). I think this is a good example of misconduct by police officers, and provides personal feelings which culminated into the poor judgment chosen by the police officers. The example provides two reasons why a police officer may begin to conduct himself using poor judgment. One officer is annoyed with his life in general, having a bad day, and has decided to take it out on the first person who agitates him more. Another officer has found a slight prejudice because of a personal experience that has distressed him, and the man who was involved in the domestic violence case just chose the wrong day to get angry with his female friend, and felt the wrath of the angry police officer.

Do you feel there is enough training offered in ethics at the police academy level? If not, why is that? Sgt. Gonzales believes that the police in this country are getting way out of hand. They need to sit back and re-evaluate the training system they have in place now. Either training needs to be extended or it needs to be revamped because it is not working. There are gangsters in Pasadena who are behaving in more ethical ways than some of the police officers here. "We had a police officer removed from the force a few years ago because he was found to be molesting female victims of crimes" (Gonzales, 2007). If training were offered in personality traits, and how to handle ethical dilemmas, then more police would be better able to handle stressful or unique situations as they come up. In addition to this, they would also know how to handle even the most mundane and typical of upsets that may occur on a daily basis (Delattre, 2006). Sgt. Gonzales, being a veteran on the police force, is more aware of the training he received fifteen years ago when he attended the academy than the new methods of training that are provided to the recruits now. I asked him if he considered going back to observe a new training course, and he said he would consider it, to see what has been improved since his time.

When asked if ethics training should be offered as an on-going process for law enforcement officers, Gonzales replied; "Excellent idea however you have to realize there will still be those people applying for the job who are simply in need of power and although they may be required to take the course none of what it is trying to teach will sink into these individuals." Sgt. Gonzales, who is a veteran of the police force, has seen many people who appeared to be of good character when they began their work at the police force become a menace to the uniform. They began strutting around behaving in such a way as to embarrass the police instead of improving the relations between the force and the citizens who they were hired to protect. These officers were re-trained, put on desk jobs, or other non-public tasks. If they were still unable to display good character and ethical behavior, they were asked to turn in their badges and guns, and were removed from the force (Gonzales, 2007). Delattre also mentions in the text, Character and Cops, that police with uncontrolled character exhibit traits that are negative, and they should not be included in the police force (2006). These individuals do not display the characteristics that would assist in improving or reinforcing good public impression of the police in general.

Do you feel that education and/or training in ethics would reduce incidents of police corruption? "Absolutely! Since the late fifties and early sixties the standards of education for children has been lowered. One of the first standards allowed to be lowered to oblivion is what I remember as Citizenship Class. Every school day from the first grade to graduation there was an hour set aside to aggressively encourage and indoctrinate children with the ideas of ethics and morality with the purpose being integration into law-abiding society. Such tops in citizenship class included etiquette, an explanation of law and its necessity, diplomacy, tact, critical thinking, sober debate, etc. It is important to include education and training concerning ethics to all members of law enforcement. Such has already been incorporated into the police academies everywhere. Why then is there an obvious increase of and disregard for ethics among a minority of law enforcement professionals? I posit that the lack of early ethical instruction has affected their decision to obey the law as they enforce it. Most importantly, these individuals may perceive that there are so few role models for ethical behavior, both within their professional lives and in society as a whole, that ethics and deciding to adhere to their advantages to society are not only unnecessary, but unimportant" (Gonzales, 2007).

Sgt. Gonzales was quite passionate about this question, and I provided a direct quote of his thoughts and feelings because he articulated his thoughts so eloquently that I was not able to paraphrase adequately to express his views. Early education is failing in the institution of ethical and moral principals. Adults without such instruction will not act decently, politely, or with an understanding of how ethics and morals are more effective to fulfillment than lawlessness.
In both interviews, with Officer McGinty, and Sgt. Gonzales, I was able to determine that they had been trained in ethics through their careers in the police force. I chose these two officers, because they were from different training classes in different years. Sgt. Gonzales is a veteran police officer with fifteen years experience, and Officer McGinty has been with the Pasadena police force since 2005, after completing police academy.

Ethics and good character are increasingly more important in police work. In order to be able to maintain good rapport with citizens, and safe, efficient working with criminals, a police officer must be able to handle all situations with a degree of composure that will better ensure that everyone will come out of every situation alive and well. With a good ethical background using personal experiences and training, a police officer may be able to talk someone off a bridge, they may be able to convince a young gang member to turn himself in, or he may be able to squelch a violent man who is beating his wife. Without the ingrained good ethics and character mistakes can be made which could be harmful to a citizen, or to the reputation of the police department. When a reputation is harmed, then no citizen is safe. The police force will lose the respect of the community, and will not be as efficient in handling cases as they arise.

References
Delattre, E. (2006). Character and Cops, Ethics in Policing, Fifth Edition, AEI Press, Washington, DC.
Gonzales, P. (2007). Pasadena Independent School District Police Force. Sgt. Interview, January 14, 2007.
McGinty, J. (2007). Pasadena Police Force. Patrolman Interview, January 27, 2007.