THE IMPORTANCE OF ETHICAL

LEADERSHIP
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, the reader should be able to:
define ethical leadership.
articulate the importance and need for ethics and leadership skills in
policing.
explain why ethical leadership is every police officers responsibility.
describe the role of values, discretion, and goal accomplishment in
policing.
distinguish between leadership qualities and competencies.
analyze the qualities as well as the competencies of a police officer as a
leader.
recognize essential police leadership competencies.
INTRODUCTION
Competence as ethical leaders equips police officers with the tools necessary
to face twenty-first-century issues and challenges (Anderson, 2000; Ford,
Boles, Plamondon, & White, 2000; Haberfeld, 2002; Meese, 1993; Meese &
Kurz, 1993; Ortmeier, 1995; 1996, 1997, 2002; Whisenand & Ferguson, 2002).
Leadership skills and ethical behavior are essential to policing a democratic
society. The police have a duty to serve the law as well as the public and, since
the police possess tremendous authority over an individual, officers have a
responsibility
to perform their duties in an ethical manner. Coupled with effecmee68712_
Because of permissions issues, some material (e.g., photographs) has been
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may occur in the text. The omitted content was intentionally deleted and is not
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this course.
ISBN: 0-536-58018-9
Leadership, Ethics, and Policing: Challenges for the 21st Century, by Edwin Meese III
and P.J. Ortmeier.
Copyright 2004 by Pearson Education, Inc. Ptive leadership ability, high moral
and ethical behavior places the police in the
position of a powerful force to secure and maintain public safety and order.
Ethical leadership is not restricted to a few with rank and privilege
(Johnson, 2001). On the contrary, sharing command is inevitable in a democratic
society and it is necessary to accommodate the ever-changing demographics
and expectations of society. Ethical leadership skills are
especially critical for the frontline officer, the person responsible for implementing
police strategy consistent with social order expectations. Line officers
are forced to assume leadership roles whether they want to or not. The
police officer on the street necessarily exercises broad discretion and is the
public official with whom most citizens have direct contact (Cohen, 1996;
Cohen&Feldberg, 1991; Crank&Caldero, 2000; Fyfe, 1996; Goldstein, 1990,
2001; Kleinig, 1996a, 1996b). Appropriately empowering all police officers
with ethical leadership skills enhances the publics perception of the police
and enables officers to assist with the creation of solutions to community
problems (Stevens, 2002). Successful people and organizations of the future
will be those who take personal growth and leadership development seriously
(Anderson, 2000). Through appropriate education, training, and experience
in leadership, ethics, and policing, the ethical police officer can
lead others to set high standards, and improve the quality of life for the police

practitioner, the citizen-consumer, and the community.

WHY ETHICAL LEADERSHIP?
RoleRole of Values and Discretion
Progress in any profession is based on the ability to predict and control. But
predictions are influenced by assumptions based on theory. Thus, theory
and practice are inseparable. Control involves selective adaptation to
human nature rather than attempting to control human nature itself. Yet,
control implies and raises reasonable apprehensions about possible manipulation
and exploitation of people (Kleinig & Zhang, 1993). Therefore, professionals
pursue objectives and goals only to the extent that human values
are preserved and protected. Professionalism implies that the professional
will act ethically in pursuit of objectives and goals (McGregor, 1960).
Freedom of choice makes ethical considerationsthe judgments
about whether human behavior is right or wrongan important element of
leadership (Johnson, 2001). Thus, leadership involves values. Because it has
a moral dimension, leadership demands that anyone who assumes a leadership
role develop an awareness of how ones values and ethics define
leadership (Northouse, 2001). At its foundation, Whether or not frontline police
behavior is appropriate and legitimate depends,
to a certain extent, on the goals officers are expected to achieve as
well as the standards by which they are evaluated. In many situations, the
police mission is reduced to a meaningless phraseto protect and
servebecause goals and priorities for the police are absent or not clearly
defined (Fyfe, 1996). Additionally, politicians, community leaders, citizens,
academics, as well as the police themselves often set goals and subsequently
criticize the police if those goals are not achieved. The critics may
fail to recognize that the police work in an environment that is politically,

socially, and practically problematic. Thus, the police may be doomed to

fail from the start, particularly when officers function without appropriate
ethical leadership skills (Ford, Boles, Plamondon, & White, 2000; Vinzant &
Crothers, 1998).
Police officers are forced to confront some of the most critical and difficult
problems facing society. In the course of a single work shift, an officer
may be faced with people in crisis, personal injuries, criminal suspects, traffic
collisions and violators, domestic violence situations, a natural or environmental
disaster, lost or abused children, juvenile delinquents, and angry
citizens (California State Commission on Peace Officer Standards and
Training, 1998). Not only is there great variability and unpredictability with
the situations faced by the officer (Goldstein, 1993, 2001), the situations are
often multifaceted and emotionally charged. Thus, the police officer is
forced to make critical, sometimes life-or-death decisions that are complicated,
situational, discretionary, and laden with the possibility of negative
repercussions for and from the officer and people involved, the agency,
coworkers, the community, the courts, the law, and the media. Within this
context, police officer decisions are made in an environment containing a
multitude of direct and indirect influences that shape what officers do and
how they do it (Cohen & Feldberg, 1991; Crank & Caldero, 2000; Goldstein,
1993, 2001; Kleinig, 1996b; Klockars, 1991; Souryal, 1992; Vinzant &