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In the last few years we have seen so many
examples of poor ethics displayed by almost every segment of our
society. Ethical battles are being fought daily and I am sad to say
that casualties are being taken on the political front, the religious
front, the corporate front, and the law enforcement front and now even
on the military front.
The battle rages around us
Everywhere I look it seems that situational
ethics are being touted in order to keep from losing power, profit or
popularity. I attended a Memorial Day ceremony recently and was
troubled by a politician who stated that a group of protesters ( these
were religious fanatics who were in my humble opinion far from mainline
Christians ) should be insured their rights to protest against the
military, but indicated quite plainly would not be bothered in the
least if that insurance was delivered in a more physical than necessary
manner. God help us when we become our own worst enemy. There can be no
retreating from the ethical standards set by Jesus Christ.
I have lost some of those battles myself so I am not just the guy who
stands outside the glass house throwing stones. It's not easy to talk
about some of the tough ethical battles I have fought during my law
enforcement and military careers. While they should all have been easy
to win, I know I have diminished, in my mind at least, a lot of the bad
choices I made in direct support of a more pleasant and acceptable
memory. That’s because it is so easy and, according to the grapevine,
acceptable in our society to get away with it. However, in truth there
are a number of choices I have made that still come back to “haunt” me
to this day. One of my earliest memories as a police recruit occurred
when I was the young naive officer who watched my training officer
manhandle a drunk in public suspect who was simply disturbing the
peace. I really showed how tough I was, watching that officer issuing
some street justice. The only one who was tough was the drunk, he also
never said a word and he was on the receiving end.
I learned something about myself from that drunk that night; he taught
me that I was weak because I didn't have the guts to intervene with my
training officer. I'm sure I taught that young man something I
shouldn’t have too: that cops are and condone brutality and stupidity
personified. That suspect will never change his attitude about cops
after that incident. His family and friends most likely feel the same
way. A big transition in my character took place that night. I swore I
would never remain on the sidelines like that again. I began to feel
like I let down all the officers that were trying to live up to the
“Code of Ethics of a Law Enforcement Officer” that all my academy
classmates and I had memorized before being commissioned by our city in
California. I also felt like I had let down the Marine Corps, since
they taught me prior to my entering law enforcement to exercise good
leadership and accept responsibility for my actions and my lack of
appropriate action. This is something that needs to be taught to all
entry level individuals, no matter what their organization. Somewhere
along the way folks have succumbed to the idea that if they should
stand up for what they think is right and their values seem to differ
from those of the majority then they need to exercise loyalty over
moral courage. When that occurs then that particular ethical battle has
been won by “false loyalty,” and false loyalty is the archenemy of
personal honor and integrity.
I made plenty of other mistakes during the 35 years I spent being paid
to do a job I loved, but standing by and ignoring my ethical
responsibility was never one of them.
Almost forty years later, as I sit down to write this article on police
ethics, I think about that incident and I want to write something that
will help all officers make better choices than that one that I made so
long, long ago. (and far, far, away)
So I an going to tell you that in situations like that you need to step
in and restrain another officer whose conduct gets out of line.
Condoning unethical conduct will ultimately result in the involvement
of Internal Affairs, Office of Professional Regulation or a Civilian
Review Board. I have never forgotten how hard it can be to take that
kind of action. It takes courage to ignore the tradition, power,
prominence and popularity within the “Brotherhood of Blue” in favor of
the moral and ethical “right thing to do”.
In my time I have seen officers of all types. Most seemed full of
energy and ready and ready to take on the world. Sometimes they let
that enthusiasm turn to arrogance and they begin treating the public
like… well you know what they treat them like. This treatment only
serves to make the public angry and diminish the image of law
enforcement in their eyes. It seems like a small thing really,
especially if the folks we are talking about are criminals or even
hardcore gang members. They’ve been through the system before and that
type of treatment should come as no surprise to them. The way an
officer responds to whomever and whatever they encounter is reflective
of their training, leadership, personal integrity, and the community
they police. Verbal incitement and bullying by an officer seems like a
minor incident, but cancer starts with a small growth and can
eventually kill a man. Ignoring a chance to step in, do the right thing
and make a small difference can haunt you forever.
Don't get me wrong. I am not in the business of making life comfortable
for Criminals and “scoff-laws” that are on their way to their next
prison cell. But, antagonizing suspects just because you can, is also
an officer safety issue.
I hate to think of the potential problems an officer or jailer will
face when they face the people who are all riled up and those folks
start taking out their anger on someone else just because an officer
felt it was necessary to demonstrate that he or she was in control
But the question I need to ask you is, "Are you able to challenge
another officer immediately when the bad behavior occurs?" That's what
I mean when I speak about moral courage. It should be easy, but we all
know it isn’t. When it comes time for the rubber to meet the road, as
we say, a lot of us will hesitate. I am constantly reminded that it's
hard to step in like that, even on relatively minor issues. Maybe
that's our problem. On big, clear-cut, in your face, go-to-jail or
lose-your-job issues, the decision to step in is a great deal easier;
in fact it is almost made for you. It's the smaller incidents that we
feel safe walking away from. We think we can justify them and that they
are no big deal, because no one is really getting hurt and it's just a
whole lot easier if we don't confront our brother officers. They might
call us “social workers” or “wimps”.
Well, you don't develop moral courage by walking away. Like the Kevlar
vest you wear with your uniform, your moral body armor is made up of
many very small threads of character, woven in a special pattern. It's
a pattern that you weave and create each and every time you take on one
of these small issues. And likewise, every time you walk away, a thread
goes missing from the pattern, and you are the weaker for it. Doing the
right thing is hard and it can be especially hard with the smaller
issues, because they are the easiest to walk away from. Think about the
pattern you are weaving with your life. Weave a pattern that matters.
Thomas Jefferson once said, “In matters of fashion, go with the
current. But in matters of conscience, stand as firm as a rock.” Or as
I heard when I was serving in the Persian Gulf, “When you came into
this world, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that
when you leave this world, the world will cry and you will rejoice.”
God Bless
Chaplain Fairman
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