Dear Editor,
The vexed question may be asked: Is it the bad apple or the barrel that is damaging the image of law enforcement?
Swope believes, “The Rotten Apple theory that some administrators proposed as the cause of their demise is usually nothing more than self-serving superficial facade, intended to draw attention away frown their own failure.” He posited that, “It is the unethical breeding environment of the barrel that generates the major difficulties. It is the barrel, the culture of police organizations, that can cause the… scandals that periodically face some police organizations.” He further stated that, “an officer’s behaviour is influenced more directly by the action or lack of action in response to ethical shortcomings of his superiors than by the stated directives or written ethical code of an organization.”
Perry (2001) argued, “The Rotten Apple theory won’t work any longer. Corrupt police officers are not natural- born criminals… The task of corruption control is to examine the barrel, not just the apples, the organization, not just the individuals in it, because corrupt police are made, not born.”
I may add, that sometimes we need to replace some of the staves, the hopples, and other tainted materials that make up the barrel. The indications are that whenever some apples go out on lucrative details, on their return they have to leave something with the barrel or they cannot go on similar operations again, thus causing both the apples and barrel to be contaminated.
A good starting point to promote ethical behaviour and integrity is to eliminate the code of silence. That thin blue wall of silence. The code of silence encourages people not to speak up when they see another officer doing wrong.
Fulton (2000) stresses: “Police commanders must exemplify the honesty and integrity they seek in their subordinates.” In addition: “Ethical mentoring and role modelling should be consistent, frequent and visible.”
All is not lost. McCarthy (2000) presents seven steps that can help prevent unethical behaviour: “(1) Recruit with care. (2) Establish proper policies and put them in writing. (3) Adapt a good employee evaluation process. (4) Make sure your sergeants share management’s values and philosophies. (5) Develop operational controls. (6) Perform regular anti-corruption inspections and audits. (7) Implement ethics and integrity training into every training activity.”
Ethical behaviour is what is moral and right. Law enforcement must at all times develop high ethical standards on and off duty. Benette and Hess explain that the key elements of corrupt behaviour are that the conduct “(1) is prohibited by law or rule, (2) involves misuse of position and (3) involves a reward or personal gain for the officer.”
Developing honest and ethical individuals and team players is important because most future law enforcement leaders will emerge from the lower levels of the organization.
Yours faithfully,
Clinton Conway
