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the organization. The conflicts being presented can create many ethical concerns and can result in a chain reaction of events. These events can include dissension in the ranks resultant of some officers striving to work ethically while others are working in opposition to them, and which can bring about ineffective policing practices and results. Another concern is that the unethical behavior will become “contagious”, resulting in a systemic deterioration of ethical values and thereby giving birth to a pervasive unethical culture within the agency. These ethical concerns are applicable to four theories pertaining to ethics in policing revealed by Dean and Gottschalk (2011). They first discussed the “slippery slope theory” which holds that once an officer engages in a minor form of deviance, they then become susceptible to committing more serious forms. They proceeded to look upon the “rotten apple theory” which is an individualistic perspective of police deviance. They then revealed the “rotten barrel theory” which looks at deviance from a pluralistic (group) perspective, and lastly, they presented the “rotten orchard theory” which holds that deviance can indeed become institutional/ systemic. One other theory relevant to the concerns pertaining to the police subculture is the “subcultural theory of police deviance”. Pogrebin and Atkins (1976) described this theory as holding that organizational deviance is institutionalized and acceptable in some fashion within almost all police agencies. It is opined that the police subculture is viewed negatively by the public. This opinion was supported by Martin (2011) revealing that one poll showed the public’s trust in law enforcement being at only 56% as opposed to their trust in nurses being at 84%. The public can view the police subculture as being ambiguous, allowing for officers to operate in a non- transparent manner, thereby allowing law enforcement officers to not be held accountable for their actions. ETHICAL CULTURE: A PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION In order for a law enforcement agency to be effective, an ethical culture must be put into place within the organization. Fitch (2011) supported this statement by stating that administrative officials must establish standards (e.g. policies, procedures, guidelines) for employee’s behavior at all levels of the organization, and illustrate that ethics plays a crucial role in an officer’s success in the agency. It is opined that the implementation of an ethical culture be done proactively as opposed to waiting until an unethical incident occurs before doing so. There are various ways by which administration can create an ethical culture within their agency, and some of these “mechanisms” include: A) The implementation of a code of ethics. Popa, Naghi, and Isopescu (2012) defined a code of ethics as “an official document which can be used as a guide for how people must act in an organization and includes a set of rules and principles of moral and social professional conduct”. Police codes of ethics should be both discussed orally and be available in written form for officers. These guidelines provide a roadmap for officers regarding their conduct and the procedures (SOP) which are acceptable for carrying out their duties. Law enforcement agencies must have guidelines, policies, rules, and a disciplinary system in place for purposes of creating a culture of ethics and to regulate officer behavior.

are a hot topic of debate in contemporary society. Currently, news stories have become saturated with reports of police misconduct/unethical behavior to the point that policing can be viewed as being in a state of crisis. Presently, the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta are at the forefront of media headlines resultant of both individual’s perishing while interacting with police officers and resulting in worldwide protests and rioting occurring in lieu of perceived excessive use of force by officers and allegations of racially prejudiced policing practices. Police misconduct can occur in many forms, and some are more apparent than others. Some of the more widely known forms include bribery, improper/ excessive use of force, racially prejudiced policing practices, extortion, evidence tampering, and perjury. It must be noted that working within such an autonomous fashion, there are a multitude of opportunities for law enforcement officers to act unethically. Georgia Pittman (2000) supported this statement by revealing that reports of police misconduct have increased exponentially over the last several years, and also revealed some factors which can be seen as bringing about this increase of unethical behavior, and which include lack of proper recruiting, inadequate background investigations of potential candidates, deficient training programs, and the failure of administration to promote ethical behavior. It is felt there are other causal factors which must be mentioned and include job related stresses, financial difficulties, the presence of negative/ unethical cultures, subcultures, norms, and lastly, job dissatisfaction. Regardless of the reason, officers are expected and obligated to act in an ethical manner lest they be held accountable for their actions. Schaefer (2008, p. 64) defined norms as “the established standards of behavior maintained by a society” (e.g. the prohibition of drinking while intoxicated). Schaefer (2008, p. 55) also defined culture as “the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior”. In furtherance, culture can also be defined in a more simplistic manner as was done by Brown, Melian, Solow, Chheng, and Parker (2015) as “the way things work around here”. There are groups existent within larger cultures known as “subcultures”. Subcultures was defined by Reid (2008, p. 420) as “a group of significant size whose behavior differs significantly from the behaviors of the dominant groups of society”. The policing subculture has become widely known in contemporary society and has also become known as the “thin blue line” and the “blue wall of silence”. Pogrebin and Atkins (1976) also revealed that an unethical police subculture can be a means wherein police misconduct is viewed as normative. Prenzler (1997) provided four elements of the police subculture, and which are A) disregard and disdain for rules and procedures, B) disregard for due process of citizens, C) cynicism, isolation, and intolerance, D) solidarity amongst members of the culture. It is opined that the police subculture conflicts with what is expected of officers in the department’s code of ethics. One such conflict can be found in the focal points of the two. A code of ethics focal point is serving the community in an ethical manner, whereas an unethical police subculture’s focus is serving the needs/ desires of its members by any means necessary. In sum, they have differing values. One other identified conflict is that of transparency. A code of ethics requires that the members of an organization (law enforcement agency) operate in a responsibly visible manner, whereas the police subculture expects its members to be secretive about any unethical activities perpetrated and to be loyal to the group rather than

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