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
Ethics
Definition:
Derived from the Greek work
ethos, meaning “customary
behavior”. The norms or
standards that should guide
people in controlling their
behaviors.
Translated into simple
terms:
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What’s Right
What’s Fair
What’s Honest
What’s Legal
Ethical Challenges
Knowing what’s
right
Doing what’s Right
• 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.
Objectives
Checklist For Ethical Decision Making
ACT
A. Identify Alternatives
B. Project Consequences
C. 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
Traditional Morals
Americans have
traditionally relied on timetested moral rules, usually
handed down by a supreme
being, that command
obedience and punish
defiance.
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
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.
“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”
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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
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SELF-PROTECTION
SELF-INTEREST
SELF-DECEPTION
SELFRIGHTEOUSNESS
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:
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Emulate desired values of the organization
Have a vision for the future
Mature
Motivated
Ethical
Participant in the organizational process
Ethics Training
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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