Toward a Police Ethos: Defining Our Values as a Call to Action

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Law Enforcement Executive Forum 2011 11(1) 99

Toward a Police Ethos: Defining OurValues as a Call to Action

John A. Bertetto, Police Officer, Chicago Police Department

Policing and the Community in the 21st Century

The last two decades have seen the rise in numerous, so-called alternate policingstrategies (Kelling & Coles, 1997). Developed primarily in the classroom, thesestrategies include titles such as Community Policing, Broken Windows Policing,Third Party Policing, and Pulling Levers Policing, among others (Weisburd &Braga, 2006). At their core, these strategies share two primary purposes. First, theyaim at the reduction of crime and disorder through a concerted reconnection andpartnership with various civic organizations. Second, they are a subtle backlash atthe dominant Professional Policing Model espoused and followed by most policedepartments in the preceding decades (Kelling & Coles, 1997).

Despite the shortcomings of each of these strategies, the aforementioned twopurposes are valid points. History shows that the un-policed model of ProfessionalPolicing inevitably ends in failure (Blue Ribbon Rampart Review Panel, 2006;Weisburd & Braga, 2006). The shockwaves from these failures are damaging to

both the organization and the community and can take decades to dissipate.

The fact that these strategies have come from academia, however, has createdanother criticismthis one coming from within police departments. The beliefis that it takes an officers understanding of the street and the police culture toformulate policing strategies that are both safe and effective. Consequently, thesenew strategies find as their harshest critics the officers who are expected to executethem. This is a lose-lose-lose scenario. Academics and policy strategists lose outon an honest evaluation of alternative policing strategies; police lose out on theopportunity to find new solutions to existing problems; and the community loses

the chance to see real and effective improvements in crime and safety.

As policing continues into the 21st century, the police officer must change as well.Technological advances require officers to be both intelligent and adaptive tochange. The previously mentioned policing strategies require officers to expandupon their traditional role as law enforcement agents and include the roles ofsocial worker and problem solver. These expanded duties increase the knowledgerequirements for police officers. As new technology and new policing strategiesevolve into the future, this requirement can only be expected to grow as well.

It is here, then, that a new need arises. Crime continues to grow and invade thesafety of the community. As we develop officers capacity for social awareness,community relationship building, and problem solving, we must also continue toprepare and develop their capacity to face the rigorous challenges and dangers oflaw enforcement. We must create a true ethos.


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100 Law Enforcement Executive Forum 2011 11(1)

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 ethosa 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 understandwho we are, but who we want to be. Most importantly, we can use this understandingto create a clear Police Ethos. The Police Ethos not only becomes a clear description ofwho we are, but it provides a clear set of values we can pass on to the next generationof 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 rocksolid, becoming the Gibraltar of what it means to be a police officer.

Change and the Police EthosAs changes are made to the strategies that police officers use, and as technologicalchanges and shifts in social thinking occur, it may be asked whether a Police Ethosis needed. Is the notion of a Police Ethos archaic and negated by these changes?The answer is clearly No.

Changing strategies in no way affects the police officers fundamental role of lawenforcement. As long as crime is committed, officers will still need to patrol thestreets, respond to calls for service, and apprehend offenders. Additional roles may

be added to the duties of the officer, but the requirement to locate and apprehendoffenders will remain.

Second, advances in technology neither demand nor warrant the absence of adefined Police Ethos. Technology plays no role in the value set of police culture.Furthermore, though technology may assist the police officer in the performanceof the officers duties, it cannot make the critical and ethical decisions that officersmust make during the performance of their duties. Though technology may helpidentify and record criminal activity, apprehension must still be performed by

officers placing offenders into custody.

Finally, sociological and psychological examination of the factors which mayinfluence or cause criminal activity in no way affects officers engaged in theperformance of their law enforcement duties. Police officers are not responsible,ultimately, for the alleviation of social ills. Officers most often deal with the terminalresults of these ills. As debate continues regarding the social causes of crime, crimeitself still exists. Officers will still be required to be on the street confronting andsecuring offenders. Changes in social theory do not affect this, and, thus, do notalleviate the need for a defined Police Ethos.

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 thatresearch repeatedly demonstrates as necessary for combat effectiveness but that isdistinctive from civilian society. He identified five traits:


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1. Discipline2. Cohesion3. Sacrifice4. Strength5. Authority

Though the purpose of Major Buckinghams research was to identify traitsdistinctive to the military and its Warrior Ethos, the traits he describes are notunique to military application. Rather, these traits are equally valuable for policingand should be given further consideration.

Discipline

Discipline is defined as controlled behavior resulting from training and a stateof 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 andpolicing, this behavior is not only the result of training, but the individual retainsfull control of their behavior as a result of the training. The work of the policeofficer is governed by both law and by department regulations, and the officerutilizes the authority granted by these to maintain order of both the officer him- orherself and the community.

Discipline is both an individual as well as a group trait. The officer who maintainspersonal physical fitness and who visits the firing range using personal time displays

the type of controlled behavior that defines individual discipline. The commanderwho ensures that officers are adequately trained and equipped, and who ensuresthat 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 disciplinerequired and exhibited by police officers is distinctive. Unlike other professions,police officers are never off-duty. The training requirements to become a policeofficer, 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 bothon- and off-duty. It is the strict adherence to training that best protects the policeofficer from attack and injury. The discipline needed for the police officer at boththe individual and team level is unique.

Cohesion

Cohesion has two meanings: it is both the process of two or more elementscohering, 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 isthe shared hardship that pulls police togetherthe shared hardship of training,the shared hardship of duty, and the shared hardship of service. It is the oftenunspoken shared familiarity of standing in the rain or snow, or running down adark alley. Sometimes, it is the shared hardship of loss. While it may be reflexiveto seek to alleviate hardship, it should be understood that it is the very thing thatdrives cohesion. Shared hardship forges bonds between individuals, the strength


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of which are determined by the degree of severity. While it is not the goal of leadersto create artificial hardships to attempt to create cohesion, a plan that ultimatelydoes not work (Buchholz & Roth, 1987), the mutual trust between those who haveshared hardships is not easily shaken.

As well as a process, cohesion is a state of being. Units that have cohesion activelystrive to work together. They intuitively understand that their strength is in theircombined efforts, and they give to one another selflessly. Their mutual trustguarantees 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 willmatch 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 deathgrows, so grows the potential for cohesion. It is this reason why so many civilianattempts 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 civilianvocations. The officers willingness to sacrifice their own personal desires for thesake of the community is a cornerstone of the Police Ethos. Police officers sacrificetime with their families, working around the clock as well as on holidays, as aresult 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 rankstructure inherent to police departments, officers sacrifice a degree of personalautonomy, willfully taking direction and orders from those of higher rank. Personalfreedom 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 formsfor 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 attentionto detail. Miscalculations or inattentiveness can cost lives. Officers are most oftenwitness to the most disparate moments in peoples lives. The repeated viewing ofthis cruelty can affect the strength of the officers character. Police officers mustdevelop the strength to witness and process these events, moving forward and

remaining focused on the organizational mission and the well-being of thosewhom they continue to serve.

Through their actions, criminals have proven a disregard for others and a singularfocus upon themselves. They will often say or attempt anything to secure their ownescape from justice. Criminals are not above attempting to make officers party totheir own escape or to the continuation of their illegal activitiesthat is, to turning ablind eye. Police officers must have the moral strength to resist these temptations.


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Officers must also possess the strength of character to persevere. However tryingan incident may be, the police officer must never quit. The safety of the communitydemands it. The lives and safety of fellow officers demands it. Commitment toduty and honor demands it.

The police officer must possess and maintain the physical strength requiredto perform the job. This includes the ability to run after offenders, scale fencesand walls, and subdue resistant offenders, but it is certainly not limited to theseactivities. Police officers must maintain a particular level of physical strength andfitness to maintain a command presence. Officers must convey by their physicalpresence that they have the ability to complete any task assigned to them. A policeofficers physical strength must tell the community not only that they care aboutthem but that they care about themselves as well. The uniform is not just anidentifier of the officers profession; it is also an obligation. It obliges the officerwho wears it to have both the character strength and physical strength to honorthe office which the uniform represents. Though other professions exist whichrequire character and physical strength, these particular demands are distinctiveto police officers.

Authority

Authority is the right or power to give commands, enforce obedience, or to takeaction. Officers have the legal authority to deprive individuals of their freedom ofmovement while conducting investigations and effecting arrests. Certainly these

authorities are not granted, nor exercised, lightly. Due to the breadth of authoritypolice 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, itis their primary responsibility to execute their moral authority. With the widepowers granted by legal authority, it is incumbent upon officers to ensure that thisauthority is not used for personal benefit. The exercise of authority, both legal andmoral, is the fundamental basis for action by police officers.

Not only must authority be exercised properly, but it must also be submittedto respectfully. With rank comes increased authority, including the authorityover subordinate officers. For departmental supervisors and leaders, thisacknowledgement of authority over officers must always be tempered withthe knowledge that they are also responsible for the conduct and safety of theirsubordinates. While the departmental mission must come first, supervisors andleaders must recognize that they cannot put their people in the way of undueharm. 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 submitto authority. This does not mean that officers are subjected to the whims of theirsuperiors, but it does mean adherence to proper procedures for the performance ofduties. The respectful submission to authority by police officers is as critical to theoverall success of the departmental mission as the exercise of authority is.


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Warrior Ethos and Warrior Police

For some time, the military has had a clearly stated Warrior Ethos. Through thissimple declaration, they make clear their core values. Police departments haveoften tried to do similar feats, creating mission statements or providing lists

of values in the form of acronyms. Undoubtedly, these are beneficial practices.However, no formally labeled and committed Police Ethos has been presented.This most likely is due to confusion over what exactly is an ethos for policeofficers and its confusion with what some have often referred to as Warrior Police.

The police officer is pressured from many angles. Most notably, these pressurescome from the criminal element itself. Though statistics show that violent crimeand felonious assaults against police officers are slowly declining, criminalsremain more violent and better armed than at any other time in American lawenforcement. Respect for police is at a low due to societal changes and variouspolice scandals. Too often, communities within large cities resemble war zones,with criminals forcing residents to hide within their homes. The police are vocallyencouraged by both the community and from within to be proactive, creatinginnovative and often aggressive strategies for combating crime and violence. Atsome point, the statement is made that police need to be, like the military and theirWarrior Ethos, warriors themselves. Without realizing it, however, this statementcan set up departments for tremendous failure.

Our communities are not war zones. When the comparison between military

warriors and police officers is made, it invariably leads to an ever-increasinglevel of tactical aggression by officers. Police officers may begin to see their role assubjugator and the entirety of a community as the enemy. This effect has beenstudied in Los Angeles after the scandal in the Rampart Division which occurredduring the 1990s.

As part of Los Angeles Police Departments Consent Decree, a panel was createdto investigate the circumstances which led to the Rampart scandal with the goalto determine how obvious warning signs were missed. Among their findings

they noted two primary drivers that led to the scandal: (1) the departmentsencouragement of a gunslinger mindset and (2) the pressure to bring aboutdramatic reductions in violent crime that created a no holds barred strategy(Blue Ribbon Rampart Review Panel, 2006). In short, officers were encouragedto view themselves as warriors, and supervisors often turned a blind eye toexcesses so that their officers could bring in arrests.

Police departments must, to a certain degree, encourage aggressive policing in theirofficers. As crime continues and, in some areas, worsens, officers must be mentallyprepared to actively seek out and stop criminals. The mission must remain the

primary focus. However, the streets of our communities are not battlefields. Toencourage this mindset sets the stage for a lack of empathy that only deepens thegulf of the us vs. them mentality. As officers are encouraged to see themselvesas besieged warriors fighting against an entrenched enemy, the potential for abusecan grow until actualized. This danger must be recognized. The understanding ofwhat a Warrior Ethos is, and by extension creating a Police Ethos, becomes criticalin this avoidance. A Police Ethos provides for a statement of values while callingfor action.


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If an action has been quit, it was done so during an event. This is the differencebetween defeat and quit. The former occurs after an event has concluded; the latteroccurs during the course of the event. Officers will never quit. They will pursue anoffender tirelessly, be that pursuit a paper investigation or a foot chase.

The most critical aspect of these two ethos statements, however, is not theirdefinitions or their subtle differences. Rather, it is the one thing they share. Bothrepresent conscious decisions. An individual must decide to be defeated and anindividual must decide to quit. By making these two ethos statements, we do twothings. First, we remove the decision from the officer. Secondly, we shine a lightupon these two decisions so that supervisors and commanders may recognizethem. Part of continued officer training can be the reinforcement of these two ethosstatements, conditioning officers to never have as part of their decisionmakingprocesses 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 cometo each others aid in times of personal need. Despite any personal differencesofficers 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 precedingethos statements is a failure to your fellow officers. If an officer puts themselvesand 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 officermust live the Police Ethos or they have failed their fellow officers. This statementmakes 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 seenhow the traits distinctive to law enforcement provide support for the notion of adedicated 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 communitiesthey serve. It is this confusion that can encourage the type of gunslinger attitudethat leads to disastrous incidents like the one Los Angeles suffered. The creation ofa formal Police Ethos can eliminate this confusion. By confirming the core valuesof the police officer in a true Police Ethos, the essence of the warrior spirit can becaptured while simultaneously affirming the honor and integrity inherent in ourchosen profession.

Bibliography

Blue Ribbon Rampart Review Panel. (2006). Rampart reconsidered: The search for realreform 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.


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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 Departmentcurrently assigned to the Research and Development Division. Prior to hiscurrent assignment, Officer Bertetto worked as a midnight beat officer in the008th and 012th Districts. He is the co-author of Leadership for the PatrolOfficer, a course of instruction taught at the Chicago Police Academy. OfficerBertetto holds a Master of Science degree from Western Illinois University.

Toward a Police Ethos: Defining Our Values as a Call to Action

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