SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – Utah’s law enforcement ranks have beendepleted by eight, not in shoot-outs or crashes, but in a disciplinary hearing.
Reports of wrongdoing by peace officers always seem to make news. Today’sreport from the Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council reveals adramatic drop-off in the number of discipline cases in one of the mostdemanding professions. Commanders point to new ethics training as a key reason.
The infractions that resulted in eight officers losingtheir badges – some for as little as six months, others for life – range froman extramarital affair to lying on a police report to providing a controlledsubstance to a minor. In every case, an officer failed to live up to standardsfar higher than what is expected of civilians.
“It’s absolutely fair,” says Major Scott Stephenson,Deputy Commander of POST, Utah’sPeace Officer Standards and Training academy.
"The reason it’s fair is the confidence and trustthat the public places in law enforcement professionals. We have to live up tothat,” he says.
Stephenson says that’s the reason for newly adoptedintensive ethics training at POST. Each and every recruit must participate inat least twelve hours of ethics training before he or she can graduate andenforce the law. These men and women are not only protecting the citizens oftheir community, they’re protecting the reputations of their fellow officersand the community’s trust in the professionals who enforce the laws.
“One officer makes a mistake, it taints all of us,”says Stephenson.
It’s a lesson Sandy Officer Monica Leger takes veryseriously. Two weeks on the job, she’s the city’s newest cop.
"Are you ready for everything that’s waiting foryou on the street?” I ask. Her response is immediate and matter-of-fact:
“Absolutely not,” she says. “That’s why I’ve had lotsof training and lots more training to come.”
Leger, like her fellow officers, knows she’s beingwatched carefully. Like them, she accepts the challenge.
“What I do, even though I’m brand, spankin’ new,” shesays, affects every single officer who’s been here for twenty five years.”
If a recruit could graduate with honors from theacademy, it appears Officer Leger would have done it. Major Stephens says fewerpeople than in years past are going into law enforcement. It’s tougher to makethe grade. The scrutiny is tighter than ever.
“We air our dirty laundry,” he says. “We want thepublic to now what’s going on in our profession. I think if you took everyother profession and you had them convinced they should air their dirtylaundry, I dare say that we’re pretty clean in doing the best we can inpolicing and managing ourselves.”
