Boca Raton

In Law Enforcement

Captain Steve Brancazio

• Boca Raton Police Department

• 18.5 years

• Currently assigned as North District Commander / ICLAD

• Have managed Training / Accreditation / Recruiting

• Former Internal Affairs Investigator

Definition:Derived from the Greek work ethos, meaning “customary

behavior”. The norms or standards that should guide people in controlling their

behaviors.

Ethics

Translated into simple terms:

• What’s Right

• What’s Fair

• What’s Honest

• What’s Legal

Ethical Challenges

Knowing what’s right

Doing what’s Right

Objectives• Define Ethics, Morals and Integrity• Discuss the Present State of Moral

Values in America- Traditional vs. Moral Freedom

• Discuss the Ethical Standards Officers are Held to and Why

• Discuss the Theory of “Social Contract”• Identify the Factors Effecting Police

Conduct• Identify the Factors Effecting Ethical

Decision Making in Policing• Discuss the Giglio and Brady Rulings • Identify the reasons role models are

important• Developing and implementing successful

ethics training program.

Checklist For Ethical Decision Making

ACTA. Identify Alternatives

B. Project ConsequencesC. Tell Your Story. Consider Your Defense.

MORALS• The standards of

rightness and goodness by which we judge behavior.

• The way things should be.

• Private codes of values.

Integrity• Being morally

whole at all times, even when uncomfortable or inconvenient.

• Moral Courage

“We expect too much from laws and demand too little from people”

Michael Josephson, 1994

Americans have traditionally relied on time-tested moral rules, usually handed down by a supreme being, that command obedience and punish defiance.

Traditional Morals

Moral Freedom

Individuals are expected to determine for themselves what it means to lead a good and virtuous life. We decide what is right and wrong.

So why are police held to higher ethical standards?

Abraham Lincoln stated, “No man is good enough to govern another without the other’s consent.”

Authority is something granted to the police officer by the people he or she serves. The police officer is “allowed” to govern behavior by the same people he or she governs.

Authority

“Social Contract”

“(Officers and supervisors) must stress that a commitment to integrity is more important than any other value in the police department. No matter how competent and productive they are, officers with integrity problems cannot be good cops.”(Roberg, R. R., & Kuykendall, J.,

1997)

Deliberate Indifference

What factors contribute to public criticism about the conduct of police officers?

Police service is the one of the few “businesses” in which a large part of the clientele does not appreciate or want the service.

Police officers are usually easily recognizable because of the uniforms they wear and their conspicuously marked vehicles. This makes their actions or inactions more noticeable than those of people in other occupations.

Enforcement of the law often creates resentment of the police, especially if officers’ actions are perceived to be selective, arbitrary, or aimed at a particular group of people.

Police officers are exposed to temptations, situations, and human behaviors not found in other forms of work.

Police officers often work without supervision, are vested with extraordinary power to control the conduct and behavior of the people they serve, and frequently make decisions about the delivery of police services at their own discretion.

Police officers are involved in emotionally charged and dangerous situations, such as arrests, detainment, and the use of force, which may compromise the reason and judgment of both officers and civilians (Wilson, 1977).

Factors Effecting Ethical Decision Making

• “The Thin Blue Line”, “Code of Silence”, ect…

• Official policy vs. Actual actions on the street

• Discretionary nature of police work• Peer pressure• Closed environment• “Contempt of Cop”

“Contempt of cop”

• Apparent disrespect toward police

• Occupational arrogance

• Allowing the ego to get in the way

• Unable to disengage from the argument

4 FACTORS THAT TEND TO DEFEAT ETHICAL

INSTINCTS• SELF-PROTECTION

• SELF-INTEREST

• SELF-DECEPTION

• SELF-

RIGHTEOUSNESS

Giglio v. United States 405 U.S. 150, 154 (1972)

Brady v. Maryland 373 U.S. 83 No. 490 (1963)

Role Models

How to be an effective role model:

• Emulate desired values of the organization

• Have a vision for the future

• Mature

• Motivated

• Ethical

• Participant in the organizational process

Ethics Training• Inspiration• Collaboration• Identifying situations• Specify guidelines• Education/training• Integration

“Some of us overestimate the cost of being ethical and underestimate the cost of compromise.”Michael Josephson, 1994

The End