Seminar Overview

What makes good cops go bad? Ethics: The Role of the Law Enforcement Leader is designed to clarify issues law enforcement executives, managers, and supervisors deal with on a daily basis such as ethics, values, morals, integrity, character, and discipline.

The course is a combination of lecture based classroom activities, interactive group discussion, small work groups, and assessment of ethical behaviors and ethical leadership behaviors as observed in structured case studies excepted from motion pictures. The majority of the basic concepts are defined in the lecture based portion of the course, by obtaining a consensus of understanding as the foundation for further discussion and group development. During the interactive portions of the program, cultural organizational issues will be examined. Topics include the Values-Based organization versus the Rules-Based organization. “What makes good cops go bad?” receives significant attention throughout the seminar. Psychological and physiological effects of police work on managers and officers will be explored. Together, we will examine case studies offered by the instructor and those in attendance. Elements of this portion of the course will be alertness, vigilance, on-the-job victimization, occupational compromise (corruption) and the process of becoming the “dysfunctional employee.”

The question is often raised, “can ethics be taught?” That answer is designed to come from this course work as a product of understanding and interaction between members of the course. Methods of conducting an “Ethics Inventory” for a particular organization will be examined along with how an organization’s Mission Statement and Vision Statement can become integral portions of the organization’s legitimate fiber, not just words on the wall. Ethics training for officers and a three pronged intervention strategy for organizational leaders will be explored. The course is designed for law enforcement supervisors, managers and executives as they confront challenges that require significant leadership skills. The desired outcome of the course is to attain a common understanding of the ethics problems contemporary law enforcement officials face, develop strategies to deal with individual deficiencies, and to consider the health and future of the entire organization.

Program Highlights

Ethics Overview

• The Ethical Law Enforcement Organization
  
• The Concepts that Comprise Ethics: Consensus Building
  
• Values Based vs. Rules Based Organizations
  
• Assessment of the Organizational Culture

Organizational Culture and Assessment

• Ethical Assessment of the Organization
  
• Ethical Assessment of Leadership Behaviors
  
• The Dysfunctional Employee
  
• The Process of Compromise
  
• What Makes Good Cops Go Bad?

Organizational Intervention

• Can Ethics be Taught?
  
• Methods of Conducting an Ethics Inventory
  
• Mission Statements and Vision Statements
  
• Intervention Strategies
  
• Review of Ethical Leadership Behaviors
  
• Meeting the Challenge

Seminar Format

• 2 or 3 days, available in standardized or customized formats, and presented by contract or as a sponsored public seminar.

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