While leaders certainly play an integral part in forming the overall climate of the organization, they alone cannot ensure that high levels of integrity are maintained. During a national symposium on police integrity, one speaker noted that it still is “our sergeants, lieutenants, and captains who have the daily and ongoing responsibility to ensure that the appropriate workplace standards are maintained.”5 But, while ethical supervisors help maintain an ethical workplace, the opposite also remains true: uncaring and incompetent officials actually can promote misconduct.

The possibility exists that no matter how conscientious they are and how thoroughly they do their jobs, first- and second-level commanders cannot keep an officer inclined to act unethically from doing so.6 The ratio of officers to supervisors is too high to allow for close enough oversight. However, in police work, leadership is not solely defined by rank. Instead, all officers need to exude some leadership skills because they operate, for the most part, without direct supervision.

Officers receive training and a large quantity of rules and regulations and are entrusted to perform their normal day-to-day duties within those guidelines. Supervisors generally are not involved unless a complaint against an officer or a serious incident requires their response. So, while it is incumbent upon the leaders to create an atmosphere that promotes ethical conduct, it falls to each member of the organization to ensure that this standard of integrity is carried out.

Finally, mentoring younger officers can allow corruption to spread. Once a void is created by the lack of strong or cohesive leadership, it will fill with substandard or unethical officers looking to bolster their ranks. Therefore, it becomes imperative that effective leaders—who share the same goals—be in place to set the standard for subordinates to see and emulate.

Work Environment

Law enforcement professionals completely understand that their typical work environment may be less than ideal at best and life threatening at worst. Within minutes, officers must solve problems that have taken days, months, or sometimes years to develop. In this environment, excellence is a necessity. A single incident in law enforcement can have devastating effects felt throughout the country; this serves to illustrate the intolerance of police misconduct in American society.

“The major cause in the lack of integrity in American police officers is mediocrity.”7 Leadership that allows for mediocrity to first exist and then remain, rather than demanding the highest level of conduct within a department, can create a climate ripe for misconduct. However, a high degree of ethics that will prevent leaders from compromising their integrity in lieu of expediency or personal profit can stifle potential misconduct.8

In police work, results are measured in such terms as the number of arrests and the amount of weapons and drugs recovered. This being the case, officers will find ways to accomplish these tasks or risk being passed over for promotions or specialized assignments. As a result, some officers may choose to “cut corners” or violate the law and not even consider their conduct unethical. In an interview following his conviction and subsequent incarceration for his activities, one officer explained, “The pressure is to produce, to show activity, to get the collars. It’s all about numbers, like the body count in Vietnam. The rest of the system determines if you got the right guy or not.”9