# Policing with honor



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*By Lt. Randy Sutton*

"NJ Officer Charged With Staging Own Shooting" 
"Pipe Bomb Hero Cop Arrested" 
"Police Department Dealing With Arrests of Officers" 
"Police Corruption Probe Nets Four Cops"
These are actual newspaper headlines from all over the U.S. I'm having trouble understanding the sheer force of my reaction; just reading those truncated accusations cuts through me like a dull blade and makes me feel ashamed. I didn't do anything wrong and I didn't know any of those cops. My agency wasn't the P.D. in question in any of them, so why do I have such a visceral, gut-kicking response when read such things? It's simple: because I'm not alone and those cops who crossed the line aren't alone either. All of us who wear a badge are members of a profession that is one of the most honorable in the nation. I have proudly worn a badge on my chest for more than 25 years and I've reached a point where even when I'm out of uniform and off duty the imprint of that badge is still there. I take it to heart my sworn duty to serve and protect; I've knelt by the police memorial wall in Washington D.C. honoring the thousands of cops who gave their lives in the honorable performance of that same duty. 
That's why I take those headlines personally. Those dishonored cops are in the same fraternity - men and women alike - as those who have fallen. That makes me both sad and angered and that's why I have left the street to become a trainer in my department. Armed with wisdom, street-smarts, experience, all of us who are senior officers are in a position to stem the tide of corruption provided we can understand how it happens.
As a police trainer, I have studied countless volumes on the Ethics of Law Enforcement. There's a lot of material out there. I've read treatises by doctors, professors, police chiefs and street cops. I've watched taped interview after interview with former cops recounting their paths to destruction and listened to their accounts of the unraveling of their careers, their marriages, their lives. Despite all this, I'm left with more questions than answers.
Why did these officers make the decisions that they did?
Did their agencies fulfill their responsibilities to the public in the training of the officer?
And finally, could anything have been done to prevent the actions of these officers?
These are the key questions. The answers aren't simple. Where do we start? With accountability.

Full Article: Policing with honor


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## OfficerObie59 (Sep 14, 2007)

kwflatbed said:


> Those dishonored cops are in the same fraternity - men and women alike - as those who have fallen.


I have great respect for those who can use few words to convey thousands of thoughts. This is one.


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## SPINMASS (Jan 30, 2004)

+1


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