Page 60 - October Newsletter

What standards rule our department?
Increasingly I hear of officers and supervisors who fear making decisions because someone above them may object. Every unit has unspoken but clear expectations that are enforced more than department policy; consequently, the temp- tation to compromise integrity is overwhelming if we value the assignment. One does not make rank without understanding these covert behav- ioral restraints in an organization and a unit.
Do your superiors — and your peers — reward or punish integrity? We like to think we are courageous, and when faced with physical danger we are, but de- ciding to do what is right when it violates unwritten
codes is another story.
In his book The Cry for Myth, Rollo May says, “...
the greatest threat and greatest cause of anxiety for
an American near the end of the twentieth century is
not castration, but ostracism, the terrible fate of being exiled by one’s group. Many a contemporary man castrates himself or permits himself to be castrated because of fear of being exiled if he doesn’t. He renounces his power and con- forms under the great threat and peril of ostracism.”
Political correctness rules much of this bizarro world. One of the third rails in our world is the belief that the destruc- tion of family and the absence of fathers are huge factors in the lives of men behind the homicide rate in Chicago, yet no one will speak it — not our politicians, priests, ministers or administrators. My words for the last sentence have been carefully chosen, as I fear consequences for violation of this covert policy.
People have been taught and conditioned to perpetuate the bureaucracy to which they belong. If a 360-evaluation survey was done here, much of leadership would be mauled. Leadership requires that a person make decisions based on principles, rather than politics or the fear of offending supe- riors. Continuing the bureaucracy is unhealthy for all of us.
Written policy supports aggressive, preventive patrol. The boldness of criminals is diminished when there is a high probability that suspicious behavior will cause police to stop and question. However, preventive patrol today leads to unreasonable scrutiny and second-guessing. Further, cops feel punished by excessive paperwork and unfair treatment by a left-leaning media. Aggressive policing stops out of self-preservation. And don’t thugs feel rewarded when cops don’t stop them?
It seems we have devolved to a point culturally where peo- ple are trained to jump through hoops, pass tests and follow like lemmings. Failure to jump through a required hoop can be costly. See Adrian Schoolcraft’s story about his exposing New York City’s PD unwritten policies on arrest. Leadership had him committed to a psych ward. For an example in our backyard, look up “Operation Brass Tax” by Jamie Kalvan.
What is required to advance in the hierarchy of the organi- zation(s) to which you belong? Too often, people who chal- lenge the disordered thinking at the bottom of this morass are marginalized. They might rise to mid-level supervision but are controlled by those who are masters at following a sterile routine that grinds down those attempting to lead.
60 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ OCTOBER 2017
Frustrated, some burn out; others “play by the rules,” disas- semble original thinking and move up feeling unfulfilled by the routine. A few maintain their spirit and do their best for those they’re charged with serving.
Increasingly, the police are political pawns used to further the will of the political elite. Administrators do as they are told, often not realizing that they are being used by politi- cians to generate revenue or satiate their unquenchable de- mand for power. Law enforcement leaders who dare to up- hold their principles face criticism and demotion from those
with power who wish to maintain the status quo.
This scenario is nothing new. It plays out when too much power is accrued by a few. According to Phil- lip Hamburger, professor of law at Columbia Law School, administrative power, or law, used to be called prerogative or absolute power. It was used by kings to circumvent their legal processes and parlia- ments in order to exercise their will and avoid due pro- cess that the law afforded the individual. Our Constitution centrally prohibited this, as the founding fathers deemed it
unjust.
In Hamburger’s words, “...over the past 120 years, Amer-
icans have reestablished the very sort of power that the Constitution most centrally forbade. Administrative law is extra-legal in that it binds Americans not through law, but through other mechanisms — not through statutes, but through regulations — and not through decisions of courts, but through other adjudications. It is supra-legal in that it re- quires judges to put aside their independent judgment and defer to administrative power as if it were above the law — which our judges do far more systematically than the worst of the 17th century English judges. And it is consolidated in that it combines the three powers of government — legisla- tive, executive and judicial — in administrative agencies... Administrative adjudication evades almost all of the proce- dural rights guaranteed under the Constitution.”
Anyone who has been subject of an internal or adminis- trative hearing clearly understands the last sentence of that quote. This piece asks, “Why are cops being used to fur- ther political agendas that place them in danger of physical harm, lawsuits, and racism while being second-guessed by race baiters and politicians?
I look at what’s happening in the world and wonder what’s ahead. It seems that in so many places, collapse is immi- nent. Perhaps that’s good. Real leaders may emerge to re- place the perpetuators of bureaucracy. Transition will take time; hopefully, good and ethical people are willing to step up.d
Thomas Cline, MBA, MAP, has 50 years in law enforce- ment and is past president of the International As- sociation of Ethics Trainers and a writer/trainer at the Chicago Police Academy. He is the author of Cop Tales! (Never Spit in a Man’s Face...Unless His Mustache is on Fire) and Psyche Firefight - Law Enforcement Job Satisfaction in a Hostile Environment. For info on train- ing and workshops, e-mail him at coptales@gmail.com.
THOMAS CLINE
Guest
Essay