Effective Leadership in Public Safety

Those thought to be ethical or moral are described in terms of their values in regards to honesty, integrity and good character. Our ethical conduct originates from our values which are greatly influenced by our morals; they provide guidance and are our standard for the ways in which we carry out and view right and wrong decisions. For these reasons, personal ethics are said to be our foundation and, as such, often influence how we administer ethical codes of conduct in our personal lives, and the ways in which we carry out our organizational duties. The normative foundations of public service ethics are those standards used to justify and defend one’s conduct, i.e. reasoning about obligations, consequences and ultimate ends in specific situations. In addition to personal codes of conduct, leadership in the public sector requires the ability to apply ethical reasoning based on formal controls and technical standards.

The criminal justice system is one of the most important components in the public service system. Since it is a system that citizens encounter daily it would be most beneficial for those who are employed to behave as ethical leaders. Leadership skills and ethical behavior are both parts of the duties of any officer serving the law. Often employees are placed in quick decision situations that can have fatal outcomes if not handled properly. By ensuring that all officers of the law have a set of functioning ethical leadership skills can not only develop a well-rounded individual, but also builds the relationship between the community they serve to protect. The police and other officers of the law have great discretion and power over an individual which makes having responsible, ethically behaving persons on the front lines even more important. With the right training and education, ethical officers can set the bar and improve the quality of life of the community they serve as well as other officers.

Are the people placed in these roles fit as being a leader? Are they capable of leading in a large quality in the future? There has been research on the varied of different leadership styles with in law enforcement agencies. Other views on the research focus on leadership and how it effects organizational commitment. There is a need to push out research and create different models in order to redesign of law enforcement agencies. According to Patrick J. Hughes “Increasing Organizational Leadership Through the Police Promotional Process”, he explains the current process used in promoting ranks and the available leadership education for law enforcement agents. There are clear connections between leadership styles and how to proper assess a true

Effective leadership is the root of many organizational issues across sectors, and in the case of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), lack of effective leadership is the cause of low morale, particularly among employees. Furthermore, the lack of sustained, effective leadership has worked to create a host of communication and organizational culture issues which has lowered moral at DHS far below the average of any other federal agency. To further compound the problem, there has been a serious lack of sustained leadership within DHS which has led to the vacancy of many executive positions at various agencies within DHS. These vacancies have had serious ramifications in that they have led to many employees feeling as though “the organization

Professions are guided by codes of ethics to aid them in performance of their duties and to ensure maintenance of high standards of conduct. Police officers are faced with a maze of obligations in the performance of their official duties. The “Law Enforcement Code of Ethics” and “Canons of Police Ethics” were created to make explicit the conduct considered appropriate for police officers and to guide them in the performance of their duties. Although police have these guides, many are faced with ethical dilemmas, also known as a moral dilemmas. This mean the officer is challenged to make a decision which sometimes conflicts with societal and personal ethical morals and values and provide no

There are many important elements of organizational behavior in a criminal justice or security agency. These elements of organizational behavior are guidelines to organization hire valuable employees with values, morals, and ethnics. Commitment to ethical behavior one of the elements among others that will be discuss in this paper. Commitment to ethical behavior is when unethical behavior and illegal business practice in an organization is publicized. This is element that is use in the criminal justice and security agencies because the public and businesses trust the agencies to perform their duties with professionalism, morality, and diligence. The public sees through the media about police officer who have been caught breaking the law

Good and experienced leadership is the backbone of any successful law enforcement agency. The US Border Patrol depends on it for its specific mission and goals. According to cbp.gov, “The priority mission of the Border Patrol is preventing terrorists and terrorist’s weapons, including weapons of mass destruction, from entering the United States. Undaunted by scorching desert heat or freezing northern winters, they work tirelessly as vigilant protectors of our Nation 's borders.” What happens however, when leadership turns

Strategies are formulated at the Top while implemented at the lower levels in any federal, state, or private level entities. In order to run all the operations and administrative tasks according to the mission and objectives of the entity, the Top level executives are expected to formulate effective strategies and plans. To accomplish the set objectives in a well-organized manner, they provide effective leadership in all the day to day operations. The same is also true for the leadership at any criminal justice agency. Such agencies or entities work at both federal and private levels and primarily work for the elimination of injustice and criminal acts from the society. Criminal justice agencies also require an effective leadership in order to perform their duties and responsibilities as per the Law enforcement work environment prevailing in their country.

Ethics in criminal justice is an academic training of ethics which is supposed to be applied and practiced in the field of law enforcement. It is a requirement for candidates that are hired as professionals in criminal justice which focusses mainly on matters that are primarily guided by the necessities of social values and social institutions (Banks, 2009). The ethical behavior demonstrates how law enforcing agencies should operate with accordance to established practices of police with ethical guidelines that are consistent with the standards of the community in order to have and maintain public trust when performing assigned responsibilities. Ethics training has been a concern among the field of criminal justice community with a variety

“Leadership plays a key role ensuring the achievement of desired outcomes in both formal and informal groups. Insufficient leadership in policing can result in significant negative consequences for agencies and their personnel.” (Schafer, 2009, p. 1). Having ethical leaders to follow and learn from is important in any career; especially law enforcement. An ethical leader will “create an environment that is conductive to dignified treatment on the job.” (Pollock, 2017, pg. 106). A strong leader will treat his subordinates fairly but be firm in his actions. He will let his subordinates learn from their mistakes as he provides them with constructive feedback and he will show them he cares about their future goals by teaching them the fundamentals

In this country we are seeing an increase in ethical violations in the field of law enforcement. I will go into detail about some of the main ethical issues we are seeing today and what can be done to prevent such acts from happening. When one officer is being unethical it has a huge effect on how the public views law enforcement as a whole. Many officers go undetected for a long time before getting caught, but an officer committing ethical violations will have their day it’s just a matter of time. In order to improve this growing problem we must first understand why there is such a problem in the field of law enforcement.

When discussing leadership within the law enforcement profession is it vital to take the human factors into consideration. There are multiple human factors that the law enforcement leaders must take note of, such as, family issues, financial issues, stress, health, and morale. These human factors that play an important role for law enforcement in general can impact morale, officer safety and the public perception. When addressing the human factors, “Law enforcement leaders should challenge themselves and their employees to increase safety margins by focusing on human factors. By doing so, they will improve proactive communication at their level of influence and develop an organizational culture that values safety and wellness” (Bone, D., Normore,

All organizations, especially law enforcement agencies, require leadership. Maintaining a dependable leadership structure is key to the success of any organization. The philosophy of the modern style of police leadership involves a leader who is strong, competitive and unreceptive to change. Police leadership is based from an autocratic style which is founded on integrity and courage, embracing teamwork, involvement and shared leadership (Cordner & Scarborough, 2010). This style of leadership works well in an emergency situation in which rapid decision making and strict control is needed. The negative aspect to this style of leadership is the inability of the organization to function with the absence of leadership.

It is one thing to establish a code of ethical conduct for an organization in the public sector, but it is quite another to really impress upon all employees the importance of living up to that code of conduct. What makes a code of conduct and how can management be assured that all employees understand the code and follow it's values and guidelines? How do not-for-profit professions stack up against for-profit professionals when it comes to ethics? This paper delves into codes of conduct in the public and sector and provides a review of several scholarly articles that present specific instances where codes of conduct are part of the workplace culture.

Ethics can be dangerous to your career. The danger may come not from your own ethics but from the ethics of people around you and the organization of which you are a part. Employees have various moral decisions to make. Many of these decisions should be made on the basis of our moral obligations, but sometimes the morally preferable action could require courage and be performed beyond the call of duty. One defense against involvement in wrongdoing is vocalizing when there are unethical practices being made. While being prepared for organizational challenges that will inevitably test your personal values, moral beliefs, and commitment may be doing the right thing, is it ethical when one’s job is on the line?