NCJ Number
144710
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 62 Issue: 8 Dated: (August 1993) Pages: 5-8
Date Published
1993
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article focuses on how police managers, like business leaders, can institutionalize ethics into their departments.
Abstract
The institutionalization of ethics means making ethics a regular, normal part of policing. It requires putting ethics into departmental policymaking at the top management levels and through formal codes. The institutionalization of ethics also means integrating ethics into daily decisionmaking and work practices for all employees. Weber recommends three ways to achieve this task: develop and implement a code of ethics, establish a formally designated ethics committee, and offer a management development program that incorporates ethics into the curriculum. When attempting to institutionalize ethics, police managers should avoid certain pitfalls; they should not view the integration of ethics into the department as short-term or as the sole criterion for agency decisionmaking. Managers should also consider such criteria as agency size, structure, budget, mission, labor relations, legal constraints, and the community's political environment. Today's police leaders may wish to think about adopting an industrywide code, enforced by an interdepartmental ethics board. 5 notes