By Neal Trautman

Virtually without exception, when a scandal is analyzed the needs assessment will show that employees constantly did improper things without being held accountable. The continual lack of accountability is very destructive to the culture of an organization. Ethical accountability will be one of the most used aspects of preventing unethical acts in the next decade. These are the steps for implementing an ethical accountability process.

True, Open Administrative Commitment

Accepting responsibility for little or inconsistent accountability is particularly painful for many administrators, as it is brutally clear that leaders are to blame. The upper administration is the only correct place to start when you truly want to improve accountability because they are usually the worst offenders.

Even though I have instructed over 500 ethics seminars to more than 14,000 people, I have never met an officer who disagrees with the statement "I feel much more stress from within my own agency, than I do from working the street." Said another way, internal politics, back-stabbing, power plays, degrading supervisors, unethical acts and blatant unfairness exist to some degree in most workplaces.

Administrators must hold themselves accountable for resolving things if they sincerely want to enhance integrity. One of the most glaring examples of this lack of courage is the way many "bad cops" leave their department. I cannot prove it with research, but I am convinced that nation-wide, the most common way a chief or sheriff rids their agency of a bad cop (one that should be decertified or arrested) is to simply ask them to resign. The motivation is clear. If they resign the chief administrator does not have to answer to the press and city officials.

Administrators can accurately assess their own level of accountability by asking and answering the following questions honestly, to themselves:

1. Do most of your patrol officers believe they feel more stress from their own organization, than working the street? If so, why?

2. Have you or another administrator ever asked an officer to resign when he could have been arrested or decertified?

3. Do you personally know of any employee currently working in your organization who has committed a crime, but it was ignored?

4. Are you aware of any employee having had sex with another employee when one of them was married, yet they were not disciplined in any manner?

5. Would most non-sworn employees in your agency say there are leaders who frequently treat people with a lack of respect or dignity? If so, how many?

6. Would most non-sworn employees in your agency say there have been people who were promoted merely because they played politics well?

7. Would most non-sworn employees in your department say people are often disciplined based upon who they are friends with, rather than fairness and consistency?

If the true answer to several of these question was yes, address these types of issues before conducting ethics training or any other integrity project. They are by far, the most important and anything else you do will make the administration appear hypocritical. The brass must hold themselves accountable first.

After this first and most critical aspect of ensuring accountability is completed, the other three major steps can begin. They are:

• Form a committee to conduct an accountability needs assessment,

by Neal Trautman

Tuesday, February 03, 2004   dw