Transition from Good to Great:
Career Survival
• Facilitator: Lt. Aaron Goldstein
• City of Fond du Lac Police Department
• February 22, 2008
Transition from Good to Great:
Background
• Unified Tactics
Coordinator and
Instructor
• Field Training Cocoordinator
• SROVT Coordinator
• Part-time Director
Criminal Justice
program
Transition from GOOD to GREAT
VISION
• Expand new hire
assessment center to
include ethical
dilemmas
• Develop ethical
dilemma scenario –
based evaluations
•
“Ethics is a code of values which guide our choices and actions
and determine the purpose and course of our lives.”
–Ayn Rand, Russian/American novelist and philosopher
Transition from GOOD to GREAT
VISION
• Why???
– Keeps us out of law
suits
– Insures employee
retention
– Reduces stress/
improves health
•
In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of
others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.”
— Immanuel Kant, 18th century Prussian geographer and
philosopher
Transition from GOOD to GREAT
First who…Then What
• Buy – in from the top
down
• Buy – in from Field
Training Officers
• Starts before the new
officer enters the
door
• Attempt to get the
right people on the
bus…then put them
in the right seats
Transition from GOOD to GREAT
Confront the Brutal Facts
• We may need to develop a better
selection process for our new
officers
• Professionalism must be instilled
and reinforced throughout an
officer’s entire career (recruitment
through retirement)
• Enhance the organizational ethical
climate and culture by raising the
standards of employment
• Bottom line: The Code of Ethics
must become meaningful
• “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for
the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for
the appalling silence of the good people.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Transition from GOOD to GREAT
Culture of Discipline
• Understand the integral part
ethics plays in our
department, why it is
important, and the ethical
implications of your decision
making.
• Create an early impression
that a higher standard exists
for officers that requires
ethical guidelines to assist in
making decisions.
Transition from GOOD to GREAT
Built to Last
• What qualities and attributes caused
us to select that candidate as our new
officer?
– Have an attitude that is favorable
to strive for his/her ethical peak
– “Position of Advantage”
• Position is a place, an attitude,
or a condition
• Advantage is a condition,
circumstance, opportunity, or
means that is particularly
favorable to success (desired
end or benefit)
Transition from GOOD to GREAT
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Team Project: Case Studies
Team
Team
Team
Team
Team
Team
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
Discretion
Theft
Omission
Cheating
Loyalty
Leadership
• Challenge – scenario must be based on
non-law enforcement situations a new
hire may have encountered
Transition from Good to Great:
Career Survival
• Facilitator: Lt. Aaron Goldstein
• City of Fond du Lac Police Department
• February 22, 2008