A career-changing fact that every academy recruit should hear several times before they graduate, but seldom do, is that the toughest moments you will face during your career will be ethical dilemmas. If you question that statement, just ask yourself what the most difficult moments in your career have been. It doesn't matter whether you are a deputy or street cop, work on the West coast or East coast; the truly gut-wrenching situations have been moments of anger, lust, greed or peer pressure.
Another unfortunate fact is that virtually everyone in law enforcement completes their career and not once did they have a supervisor spend even a few minutes talking to them about the moments most likely to destroy their career. Not once in 20-25 years did they have a sergeant talk to them about the potentially career-ending dilemmas that lie ahead. Ironic, isn't it. Twenty years and no supervisors discuss the impending, unexpected types of dilemmas that no one can avoid; moments of anger, lust, greed and peer pressure. The following is what sergeants need to say to those they lead.
Anger
All of us get angry sometimes. That is because it is a natural, common emotion. It serves the purpose of being a defense against injustice and unfairness.
Two types of anger can destroy those of you in law enforcement. One is the rage that causes you to explode at a family disturbance, right after the husband spits in your face. It is the reason officers fly into the rage that often results in long suspensions without pay, losing their jobs, or getting arrested. Usually, the best countermeasure is for another officer to quickly intervene and stop his fellow officer from annihilating his or her career.
Although not as well known, another form of anger prompts far more officers to destroy themselves. This is the anger driven by real or perceived unfairness within your own department. Those consumed by it become bitter and cynical. This hardened bitterness causes some to rationalize the misconduct that ruins their career. It is not a coincidence that the most frequent act of serious misconduct is falsifying overtime logs. Those who do this convince themselves they are merely getting back a fraction of what they have been screwed out of, because favoritism stopped them from being promoted.
The first countermeasure if you are such an officer is to acknowledge that you have become a cynic. Next, surround yourself with people who are positive. Lastly, change your perception of the situation that has made you so cynical.
Lust
It is all about two "families" of chemicals. True love is created by endorphins. They make relationships more dependable and intimate. Instead of excitement and euphoria, they create a deep calmness and a sense of security. Exactly what a marriage needs.
The adrenaline family of chemicals on the other hand, causes lust and infatuation. There are problems with adrenaline-based infatuation, not the least of which is that the feelings it causes last only a few months to three years. Afterwards, what felt like love merely fades away.
Another bad side effect is what psychologists call "lust junkies." Some people grow to need the excitement of adrenaline so they can feel good and intoxicated. Once this initial rush of chemicals wears off, they leave their partner to search for another. The cycle goes repeats endlessly
Lust junkies have yet another problem. They need the intoxication of infatuation way too much. The body can literally develop a tolerance to the chemicals, requiring more and more to get the same emotional high.
The countermeasures are training and discipline. Both academy recruit and senior veterans need to know this. In-service ethics training should focus on these real-life things that destroy use, rather than theory or philosophy.
Greed
Theft is the largest type of offense that sends officers in America to prison. More specifically, the four most frequent crimes committed by officers who have been processed for decertification are
- Making false statements/overtime logs(19.92%)
- Larceny(12.12%)
- Sex offenses other than rape (9.48%)
- Battery (9.15%)
These four offenses comprise 51% of the crimes for which officers have been decertified. Other than filing false statements/reports, virtually all other offenses committed by the concerned officers can be grouped into four groups, anger, lust, greed and peer pressure.
Even without the most frequent act of serious misconduct, falsifying overtime, the remaining greed-related offenses account for another 26.99% of the decertifications nationwide. They are:
- Larceny (12.12%)
- Fraud/Forgery (5.03%)
- Sale of Cocaine (3.08%)
- Sale of Cannabis (1.36%)
- Robbery (1.19%)
- Bribery (1.19%)
- Stolen Property (1.10%) and
- Gambling (.46%).
To make matters worse, greed is like an addiction. The more money you get, the more you want; especially when it is driven by ego. Just like when officers rationalize falsifying their overtime because they are convinced that favoritism is the only reason they are not making a supervisor's salary and they are entitled to get back some of what the administration has stolen from them by not promoting them.
Peer Pressure
Peer pressure is the influence that is exerted on a person's behavior by a friend or coworkers to do or not do something as the result of their presence, actions or instructions. Within some law enforcement agencies, peer pressure causes the code of silence and the "us versus them" phenomenon. The severe consequence for going against the code is an indication of how strong peer pressure can be. In some agencies, officers who betray the code are ostracized, harassed and made to fear that they will be left alone on the streets in a time of crisis. As former New York City police officer Bernard Cawley testified at a public hearing:
Question:Were you ever afraid that one of your fellow officers might turn you in?
Answer:Never.
Question:Never?
Answer:Because it was the Blue Wall of Silence. Cops don't tell on cops. And if he did tell on them, his career is ruined. He's going to be labeled a rat.
The most frequent peer-pressure related crimes committed by officers who have been processed for decertification are:
- Driving under the influence (5.08%)
- Drugs other than cocaine and cannabis (4.64%)
- Cocaine drug test (1.62%)
- Cannabis drug test (1.36%).
- Overall, peer pressure-related offenses accounted for 12.70% of all the nationwide decertifications.