Fresh insights on mandatory ethics training for police recruits in 50 U.S. states look at whether the training is framed around the “high road” approach, which is based on voluntary compliance and the desire to “do the right thing”, or the “low road” approach, that emphasizes legal compliance and the threat of disciplinary actions.
Of the 33 curricula examined, all adopt either a ‘low road’ approach or a ‘low road-high road’ hybrid approach to ethics teaching, with no curricula demonstrating an entirely ‘high road’ approach.
Two main themes under the low-road teaching approach were identified:
- What constitutes unethical conduct and corruption (i.e., what not to do) - provide recruits with a “list” of specific actions that represent immoral character and unethical conduct that officers should avoid. In Kentucky, one learning objective is that students identify factors that would most likely end a law enforcement officer's career.
- What are the consequence of being unethical (i.e., what is the “punishment”). Recruits are taught of the various sanctions that could result from unethical behaviour, such as departmental discipline (e.g., suspension or dismissal), criminal charges and civil liability. In Texas, for example, recruits are expected to be able to list the civil penalties for sexual harassment and other inappropriate officer conducts.
Ten out of the 33 curricula demonstrate a hybrid approach to ethics teaching, which look at the consequences of unethical conduct not only to the police officer but also to the community (e.g., loss of legitimacy and public trust), the agency (e.g., a culture of misconduct and damaged relationships among peers) and the law enforcement profession as a whole (e.g., damaged reputation and loss of respect). These curricula discuss the reasons for engaging in unethical conduct with a shift from memorising a “don’t do” list to an understanding of the unwritten influences that may drive police officers to misconduct.
- Three main motivations to act unethically were identified:
- the need for acceptance and approval, and the fear of being ostracised by peers
- feelings of frustration, cynicism, an “us versus them” mentality and a general disillusionment with the criminal justice system
- the desire to engage in thrill-seeking and risk-taking behaviours.
This research finds that police ethics training is grounded in a rationale that aims to limit liability in the workplace, a teaching approach that emphasises “don’t do, or else” low-road strategies and ethics controls that focus on external mechanisms aimed to constrain the officer's decision-making capacity.
You can read the research In Pursuit of Police Ethics: An Analysis of Ethics Content in State-Mandated Basic Police Training Curricula here: