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Ethos Defined
Ethos is defined as the character or values peculiar to a specific person, people, culture, or movement (Buckingham, 1999, p. 4). A culture is derived from the ethos a person or group develops over time. What this definition is lacking, however, is a clear description of what those character traits or values are. It is incumbent on us, then, to clearly define our values as police. In doing so, we not only better understand who we are, but who we want to be. Most importantly, we can use this understanding to create a clear Police Ethos. The Police Ethos not only becomes a clear description of who we are, but it provides a clear set of values we can pass on to the next generation of officers. Though strategies may change, and administrations may come and go, our Police Ethos will never change. It has the ability to weather change and is rock solid, becoming the Gibraltar of what it means to be a police officer.
Distinctive Traits
In his study entitled The Warrior Ethos, Major David W. Buckingham (1999) endeavored to identify and isolate what he termed warrior distinctives (p. 20). Buckingham defined these distinctives as a facet of character or a value that research repeatedly demonstrates as necessary for combat effectiveness but that is distinctive from civilian society. He identified five traits: 100 Law Enforcement Executive Forum 2011 11(1)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Though the purpose of Major Buckinghams research was to identify traits distinctive to the military and its Warrior Ethos, the traits he describes are not unique to military application. Rather, these traits are equally valuable for policing and should be given further consideration. Discipline Discipline is defined as controlled behavior resulting from training and a state of order based on submission to rules and authority (Buckingham, 1999, p. 21). Typically, a behavior is a learned response. In the case of both this definition and policing, this behavior is not only the result of training, but the individual retains full control of their behavior as a result of the training. The work of the police officer is governed by both law and by department regulations, and the officer utilizes the authority granted by these to maintain order of both the officer him- or herself and the community. Discipline is both an individual as well as a group trait. The officer who maintains personal physical fitness and who visits the firing range using personal time displays the type of controlled behavior that defines individual discipline. The commander who ensures that officers are adequately trained and equipped, and who ensures that officers are performing their duties in accordance with established regulations, creates and maintains the type of controlled behavior that defines group discipline. Discipline exists in other professions and activities, but the type of discipline required and exhibited by police officers is distinctive. Unlike other professions, police officers are never off-duty. The training requirements to become a police officer, and the resultant controlled behavior, are much more rigorous than almost any other civilian job. Officers are held to a higher standard for their conduct both on- and off-duty. It is the strict adherence to training that best protects the police officer from attack and injury. The discipline needed for the police officer at both the individual and team level is unique. Cohesion Cohesion has two meanings: it is both the process of two or more elements cohering, and it is the end result of two or more elements that are held together. For police officers, both of these meanings should be understood and their actualization strived for. What are the forces that create cohesion? In the end, it is the shared hardship that pulls police togetherthe shared hardship of training, the shared hardship of duty, and the shared hardship of service. It is the often unspoken shared familiarity of standing in the rain or snow, or running down a dark alley. Sometimes, it is the shared hardship of loss. While it may be reflexive to seek to alleviate hardship, it should be understood that it is the very thing that drives cohesion. Shared hardship forges bonds between individuals, the strength Law Enforcement Executive Forum 2011 11(1) 101
of which are determined by the degree of severity. While it is not the goal of leaders to create artificial hardships to attempt to create cohesion, a plan that ultimately does not work (Buchholz & Roth, 1987), the mutual trust between those who have shared hardships is not easily shaken. As well as a process, cohesion is a state of being. Units that have cohesion actively strive to work together. They intuitively understand that their strength is in their combined efforts, and they give to one another selflessly. Their mutual trust guarantees that their efforts will not go unrewarded. While it has been en vogue for some time in the civilian world to participate in team building excursions as an attempt to create cohesion, none of these efforts will match the cohesive possibilities of police officers. Police work is distinctive primarily because of the danger to life that the work entails. As the potential for injury or death grows, so grows the potential for cohesion. It is this reason why so many civilian attempts to create cohesion failthere is no real danger to any of the participants. Sacrifice For police officers, the job itself entails many sacrifices unknown in civilian vocations. The officers willingness to sacrifice their own personal desires for the sake of the community is a cornerstone of the Police Ethos. Police officers sacrifice time with their families, working around the clock as well as on holidays, as a result of their profession. Police officers also know that their service may require the ultimate sacrificetheir lives. There is sacrifice within the organizational design of policing. By virtue of the rank structure inherent to police departments, officers sacrifice a degree of personal autonomy, willfully taking direction and orders from those of higher rank. Personal freedom is also sacrificed by the adherence to uniform guidelines. These sacrifices, taken in total, are distinctive to police officers. Strength Strength is the ability to resist stress or strain. Strength can take two primary forms for the police officer: (1) strength of character and (2) physical strength. Police officers are beset from all angles by attempts on their strength of character. The job itself is mentally demanding, requiring the officers full focus and attention to detail. Miscalculations or inattentiveness can cost lives. Officers are most often witness to the most disparate moments in peoples lives. The repeated viewing of this cruelty can affect the strength of the officers character. Police officers must develop the strength to witness and process these events, moving forward and remaining focused on the organizational mission and the well-being of those whom they continue to serve. Through their actions, criminals have proven a disregard for others and a singular focus upon themselves. They will often say or attempt anything to secure their own escape from justice. Criminals are not above attempting to make officers party to their own escape or to the continuation of their illegal activitiesthat is, to turning a blind eye. Police officers must have the moral strength to resist these temptations. 102 Law Enforcement Executive Forum 2011 11(1)
Officers must also possess the strength of character to persevere. However trying an incident may be, the police officer must never quit. The safety of the community demands it. The lives and safety of fellow officers demands it. Commitment to duty and honor demands it. The police officer must possess and maintain the physical strength required to perform the job. This includes the ability to run after offenders, scale fences and walls, and subdue resistant offenders, but it is certainly not limited to these activities. Police officers must maintain a particular level of physical strength and fitness to maintain a command presence. Officers must convey by their physical presence that they have the ability to complete any task assigned to them. A police officers physical strength must tell the community not only that they care about them but that they care about themselves as well. The uniform is not just an identifier of the officers profession; it is also an obligation. It obliges the officer who wears it to have both the character strength and physical strength to honor the office which the uniform represents. Though other professions exist which require character and physical strength, these particular demands are distinctive to police officers. Authority Authority is the right or power to give commands, enforce obedience, or to take action. Officers have the legal authority to deprive individuals of their freedom of movement while conducting investigations and effecting arrests. Certainly these authorities are not granted, nor exercised, lightly. Due to the breadth of authority police officers are granted, it is a trait distinctive to its profession. While it is the primary duty of police officers to execute their legal authority, it is their primary responsibility to execute their moral authority. With the wide powers granted by legal authority, it is incumbent upon officers to ensure that this authority is not used for personal benefit. The exercise of authority, both legal and moral, is the fundamental basis for action by police officers. Not only must authority be exercised properly, but it must also be submitted to respectfully. With rank comes increased authority, including the authority over subordinate officers. For departmental supervisors and leaders, this acknowledgement of authority over officers must always be tempered with the knowledge that they are also responsible for the conduct and safety of their subordinates. While the departmental mission must come first, supervisors and leaders must recognize that they cannot put their people in the way of undue harm. With authority, there is responsibilitynot just up the chain of command but down as well. Similarly, those officers who are subordinate by rank must be willing to submit to authority. This does not mean that officers are subjected to the whims of their superiors, but it does mean adherence to proper procedures for the performance of duties. The respectful submission to authority by police officers is as critical to the overall success of the departmental mission as the exercise of authority is.
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If an action has been quit, it was done so during an event. This is the difference between defeat and quit. The former occurs after an event has concluded; the latter occurs during the course of the event. Officers will never quit. They will pursue an offender tirelessly, be that pursuit a paper investigation or a foot chase. The most critical aspect of these two ethos statements, however, is not their definitions or their subtle differences. Rather, it is the one thing they share. Both represent conscious decisions. An individual must decide to be defeated and an individual must decide to quit. By making these two ethos statements, we do two things. First, we remove the decision from the officer. Secondly, we shine a light upon these two decisions so that supervisors and commanders may recognize them. Part of continued officer training can be the reinforcement of these two ethos statements, conditioning officers to never have as part of their decisionmaking processes the notion of defeat or quitting. I Will Never Fail My Fellow Officer. Officers must rely on each other. We back each other up on the street and come to each others aid in times of personal need. Despite any personal differences officers may have toward one another, these are forgotten when help is needed. This statement is the last, however, for a purpose. Failure to live up to the preceding ethos statements is a failure to your fellow officers. If an officer puts themselves and their benefit before the community, if an officer lacks integrity, if an officer accepts defeat or quits, then the officer has failed their fellow officers. Every officer must live the Police Ethos or they have failed their fellow officers. This statement makes it clear: failure in any form is not an option.
Conclusion
An ethos is a statement of core values by which a culture is defined. We have seen how the traits distinctive to law enforcement provide support for the notion of a dedicated Police Ethos. The confusion of a Warrior Ethos and the notion of a Warrior Police can create a cycle of increasing separation of police from the communities they serve. It is this confusion that can encourage the type of gunslinger attitude that leads to disastrous incidents like the one Los Angeles suffered. The creation of a formal Police Ethos can eliminate this confusion. By confirming the core values of the police officer in a true Police Ethos, the essence of the warrior spirit can be captured while simultaneously affirming the honor and integrity inherent in our chosen profession.
Bibliography
Blue Ribbon Rampart Review Panel. (2006). Rampart reconsidered: The search for real reform seven years later. Los Angeles: Rice. Buchholz, S., & Roth, T. (1987). Creating the high performance team. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Buckingham, D. W. (1999). The warrior ethos. Newport, RI: Naval War College. 106 Law Enforcement Executive Forum 2011 11(1)
Kelling, G., & Coles, C. (1997). Fixing broken windows. New York: Simon & Schuster. Weisburd, D., & Braga, A. A. (Eds.). (2006). Police innovation: Contrasting perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press. John A. Bertetto is a sworn member of the Chicago Police Department currently assigned to the Research and Development Division. Prior to his current assignment, Officer Bertetto worked as a midnight beat officer in the 008th and 012th Districts. He is the co-author of Leadership for the Patrol Officer, a course of instruction taught at the Chicago Police Academy. Officer Bertetto holds a Master of Science degree from Western Illinois University.
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