Police Integrity and Ethics
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Law Enforcement Executive FORUM Police Integrity and Ethics July 2006 Law Enforcement Executive Forum Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board Executive Institute Western Illinois University 1 University Circle Macomb, IL 61455 Senior Editor Thomas J. Jurkanin, PhD Editor Vladimir A. Sergevnin, PhD Associate Editors Jennifer Allen, PhD Department of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration Western Illinois University Barry Anderson, JD Department of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration Western Illinois University Tony Barringer, EdD Division of Justice Studies Florida Gulf Coast University Lewis Bender, PhD Department of Public Administration and Policy Analysis Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Michael Bolton, PhD Chair, Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology Marymount University Dennis Bowman, PhD Department of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration Western Illinois University Oliver Clark Chief of Police, University of Illinois Police Department Weysan Dun Special Agent-in-Charge, FBI, Springfield Division Kenneth Durkin, PhD Department of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration Western Illinois University Thomas Ellsworth, PhD Chair, Department of Criminal Justice Sciences Illinois State University Larry Hoover, PhD Director, Police Research Center Sam Houston State University William McCamey, PhD Department of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration Western Illinois University John Millner State Senator of 28th District, Illinois General Assembly Michael J. Palmiotto Wichita State University Frank Morn Department of Criminal Justice Sciences, Illinois State University Gene L. Scaramella, PhD Dean of Criminal Justice Graduate Studies, Kaplan University Wayne Schmidt Director, Americans for Effective Law Enforcement Law Enforcement Executive Forum • 2006 • 6(4) Editorial Production Document and Publication Services, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois Production Assistant Linda Brines The Law Enforcement Executive Forum is published six times per year by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board Executive Institute located at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. Subscription: $40 (see last page) ISSN 1552-9908 No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. Disclaimer Reasonable effort has been made to make the articles herein accurate and consistent. Please address questions about individual articles to their respective author(s). Law Enforcement Executive Forum • 2006 • 6(4) Table of Contents Editorial .............................................................................................................. i Thomas J. Jurkanin Police Integrity and Ethics The Impact of the Police Academy Experience on the Ethical Orientations of American Police Recruits ................................... 1 James R. Maupin Lisa J. Bond-Maupin Dennis W. Catlin Using Risk Management to Manage Police Liability and Enhance Police Professionalism: Current Applications ......................... 17 Carol A. Archbold We Are Cops. We Are Not Soldiers at War with the Community. .......... 31 Michael W. Quinn Ethical Changes and Challenges: Policing on the Texas/Mexico Border ...................................................................................... 39 Bonnie A. Rudolph Reducing Corruption and Supporting Integrity-Based Policing in Central Europe: The Case of Hungary .................................................. 47 Rob C. Mawby Alan Wright Mike King Transformation Through Personnel Systems ............................................. 63 Terry D. Anderson Pat Holliday Guidelines for Conducting Law Enforcement Backgrounds .................. 83 John L. Bellah Winning Mind, Warrior Spirit, Cop Body ................................................... 89 Brian Willis Court of Appeal Affirms Reinstatement of Deputy Fired for Dishonesty: Justices Chide Department Officials for Being “Hell-Bent to Fire Smith, No Matter What” ............................................. 99 Michael P. Stone, Esq. Stephen J. Horvath, Esq. Can Police Departments Be Sued as “Rackateer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations” Under the “Rico Act”? En Banc Ninth Circuit Panel Rules Ten to One, “Yes” ........................... 105 Michael P. Stone, Esq. Marc Berger, Esq. Law Enforcement Executive Forum • 2006 • 6(4) Liability Are Take-Home Cars a Benefit or a Liability for St. Clair County Employees and Residents? ............................................................ 109 Dominic Lauko Analyzing and Understanding Federal Civil Rights Law to Yield Better Supervision and Management of Police and Prisons ................. 127 Robert L. Bastian, Jr. Mental Health Persons with Mental Illness Post Prison Release ...................................... 175 Stephanie W. Hartwell Sarah Kuck Jalbert Karin Orr Materials/publications are available through the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board Executive Institute. Law Enforcement Executive Forum • 2006 • 6(4) Editorial Integrity is defined as “the firm adherence to a code or standard of values.” Police integrity implies that officers maintain a set of personal and professional standards that places them above compromise; that guarantees their commitment to honor, trust, and fairness; and that places duty and public service above personal gain. The level of police professionalism and service provided is influenced most significantly by the quality of personnel employed. Therefore, persons of excellent character, who are committed to the principles of fairness, trustworthiness, justice, and the maintenance of public trust, must be recruited and trained if our police agencies are to gain and maintain public confidence. The police profession, by its very nature, operates in a social environment that is ever-changing and is, in fact, chaotic. Police deal with many unpredictable people and events. Police have little control over most of what they encounter on the street; however, one critical component of their working environment that police always have control over is their own integrity. Each individual police officer can choose to remain ethical, honest, and fair, no matter what common or dramatic event or opportunity may tempt them to do otherwise. When it comes to police integrity, police officers control their own destiny. And, choosing integrity brings a sense of stability and comfort to an otherwise unstable, chaotic work environment. The ability to say (at the end of the day) that, “I did my best, and I did it with honesty and integrity,” provides confirmation of one’s commitment to excellence of character and to honoring the public trust. This issue of the Law Enforcement Executive Forum is dedicated to police integrity and the hundreds of thousands of police officers who place personal and professional integrity and honoring public trust above all else; to those men and women who exhibit the excellent character to which Adlai Stevenson referred in the following quote: Without individuals of good character and institutions that apply high ideals to daily practice, the goals of liberty, order, and justice cannot be achieved. Therefore, the public has the right to insist that the obligations of public service are very high and sacred. Thomas J. Jurkanin, PhD Executive Director Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board Law Enforcement Executive Forum • 2006 • 6(4) i ii Law Enforcement Executive Forum • 2006 • 6(4) The Impact of the Police Academy Experience on the Ethical Orientations of American Police Recruits James R. Maupin, PhD, Department Head and Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Justice; Director, Master of Criminal Justice Program; New Mexico State University Lisa J. Bond- Maupin, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Justice; Director, Community Violence Prevention Program; New Mexico State University Dennis W. Catlin, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Justice; Coordinator, Distance Learning Program, Northern Arizona University– Tucson; Codirector, Law Enforcement Command Institute of the Southwest Abstract The ethical orientation of American local police academy recruits was identified using an Ethical Position Questionnaire (EPQ) that measures scales of ethical idealism and ethical relativism. Two classes of recruits in a large regional police academy were administered the EPQ at the beginning and at the end of the academy. This research examined the ethical orientations for the two recruit classes, the ethical orientation differences between the beginning of the academy and the end, and characteristics associated with those differences. Statistically significant differences were found in ethical orientations. Operational, training, and sociopolitical implications for these findings are discussed. The Impact of the Police Academy Experience on the Ethical Orientations of American Police Recruits There is a rich history of research that addresses the question of whether or not certain characteristics of police personnel are influenced by the experience of professional socialization. This line of research grew out of the socialization theories of the 1960s. These theories held that “the beliefs, attitudes, and values possessed by officers are developed as a direct result of occupations experiences rather than from previously learned behavior” (Lyman, 1999, p. 52 ). Kappeler, Sluder, and Alpert (1998) suggest that much of the research based on the sociological paradigm supports the sociological perspective