Policing Ethics Study Results Released
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 @ 2:13 PM
Prince George, B.C. – Recommendations from the first-ever national survey and study of ethics and professionalism in Canadian police forces were released today by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), a non-profit organization representing 90% of the police community in Canada.
The study, which started in 2009, includes a national survey with over 10,000 respondents in 31 Canadian police services, as well as 80 interviews and a literature review.
The survey of sworn members, ranking from Constable to Staff Sergeant, asked about issues such as work environment and conditions, supervision, decision-making, management and community engagement. The study was conducted by Carleton University’s Dr. Stephen Maguire and Dr. Lorraine Dyke, with financial support from the CACP and the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership.
The survey focused on which programs and practices have the most impact on sustaining officer integrity and organizational commitment. Key highlights found:
- 78% of police officers are willing to put in a great deal of effort to ensure their agency is successful
- 65% feel there is a good match between their colleagues’ word and actions, (25% had no opinion on that question) and 10% felt that words and actions did not align.
- 78% of front line police officers agreed that their agency had a good relationship with the community, for example partnering with the community to solve crimes (20% had no opinion) and 2% disagreed
- 68% of respondents felt citizen complaints were dealt with fairly (20% had no opinion) and 12% disagreed
- 17% of respondents indicated concerns re the quality of supervision, for example if their supervisor would help them solve work related problems (24% were neutral) and 59% felt their supervisors were supportive
- 34% expressed concerns about whether their organization cared about their well being
- 48% indicated dissatisfaction with ethical leadership of their senior management team, for example whether senior management explains decisions to employees, or whether employees felt listened to
Dr. Maguire developed 52 recommendations for police agencies across Canada to consider. The recommendations have been accepted by the CACP. Broadly speaking, the top recommendations are for agencies to:
- Develop a program for managing ethics – set standards to guide discretionary judgment, develop in-house ethics expertise, and develop interactive ethics sessions for all in-house training.
- Support professional development.
- Provide more support for the front line by reducing span of control and by providing timely training to supervisors in supportive supervision.
“This study provided all Canadian police agencies with valuable insights. It underscored the importance of strengthening our commitment to ethical leadership, and showed us we need to do a better job of communicating that commitment internally to our front line police officers,” says Chief McFee.
The full list of recommendations at http://www.cacp.ca/index/news
Comments
“48% indicated dissatisfaction with ethical leadership of their senior management team”
Whoa.
Comments for this article are closed.