Instructional Goal
This course aims to instill in students the understanding that integrity is one of the most crucial non-tactical survival skills an officer can have for a successful and sustained career in corrections. Despite its importance, integrity is often overlooked in training.
To navigate the frustrations and challenges of the job—such as constant pressures to compromise ethical standards, misunderstandings from the media and public, and influences from peers and the agency itself—officers must consistently uphold a strong foundation of integrity, aligning their actions with their core values.
Through examining how officers with integrity can fall into corruption and exploring common ethical dilemmas faced by corrections officers, students will gain a practical guide to maintaining their integrity throughout their careers and into retirement.
Objectives
At the end of this unit of instruction, students will be able to:
• Describe the process by which an officer’s personal integrity erodes and the agency and community factors that can affect this.
• Identify the negative consequences to officers and others that can result from unethical decisions.
• Identify common situations that provide corrections officers the opportunity to demonstrate their integrity and use decision-making tools to make ethical decisions in those situations.
• Identify factors that support officer integrity.
