F. Conclusion The good ole boy system doesn't payoff for law enforcement and now will be blamed, for some shitty decisions made in the first 24. Who let's your friends clean up?? Download the WHAS11 News app now. The banner was thrown in the trash. PHOTO: An example of the racist paraphernalia sold at this event. There are several standard U.S. Air Force uniforms, just like other DoD branches. Hayward also brought some bumper stickers and hats to sell, without much success. B. 1) explicitly advise its employees that off-duty conduct is subject to regulation and review and that sanctions can be imposed for off-duty misconduct; He contended that racist signs and an effigy of a black person were displayed at the registration desk for the entire Roundup. In addition OIG concluded that the claims of bestiality, sex on Grumpy's stage during the 1995 Roundup, and naked men jumping out of trees onto women passing below were all unsubstantiated. Hayward had previously attended several Roundups as a registered attendee, until he was banned for his own racially offensive conduct. How to break up the old boys club in your office. Who knows if they will have our back when the time comes? If we were able to do away with the "club" morale and job satisfaction would greatly increase. Even male attendees told us that would not have wanted any female family member or friend to attend the Roundup because of how women were treated. How can this not be a 'Good Ole Boy' system issue along with Judges being appointed by these same legislators. Favoritism has always been a complaint in government service. Development opportunities go to the in crowd. He eventually parked his car off to the side, removed the offensive clothing, and was permitted to enter. Furthermore, because of their duty to fairly investigate and prosecute violations of the law, DOJ law enforcement officers are held to even stricter application of these standards of conduct. As favoritism is the broadest of these related terms, we'll start with its definition. Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow. We discovered, however, a huge gap between these policies, on the one hand, and actual attendance at and perceptions about the event, on the other. But before we get into specifics, lets Every day, young men and women walk into Sign up for our newsletter and receive the mighty updates! We further believe that such regulation is wholly appropriate. Friends and family can usually be counted on for loyalty, and officeholders are in a good position to know their strengths. News stories reported that the Roundup was a "whites-only" gathering of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and other federal law enforcement officers that resembled a "Klan rally" and at which these agents discriminated against blacks by posting racist signs, wearing racist T-shirts, performing racist skits, and playing racist music. This fact contributed substantially to the degeneration of the Roundup over the years from an innocuous open-air camping and recreational gathering into a playground for large numbers of the drunk, tasteless, and immature. For 1989, we received numerous allegations of racist conduct, most of which were made by Richard Hayward. Lieutenant Ellis has worked in a number of specialized assignments including with the Problem Oriented Policing Unit, Parole Intervention and Career Criminal Apprehension Teams, Narcotics and Robbery/Burglary divisions. We also found that an atmosphere hostile to minorities -- and to women -- developed over time because inadequate action was taken by the Roundup's organizers to appropriately deal with instances of racial or other kinds of misconduct. One particular display in 1992, captured in a photograph we obtained during the investigation, included a group surrounding the flag whose members are shown making obscene gestures and raising their fists. We found evidence of the unofficial sale of T-shirts during several Roundups that some persons found to be racially insensitive. LOUISVILLE, Ky. A Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) officer has filed a lawsuit claiming that LMPD is trying to hide bias, discrimination and nepotism in how it promotes officers to specialty assignments. If someone is accused of wrongdoing, its up to a jury of their peers to determine their fate. In 1995, one current and three retired Fort Lauderdale police officers confronted a white ATF agent who had come to the Roundup with two black law enforcement officers. In 1992, two different signs were displayed at the campground. Once Hayward and Randall's allegations were made public, one former and several current black ATF agents made allegations that the Roundup was a "whites-only" event and that no black agents had ever been invited to attend. In 1992 the same persons who ordered the sign taken down pulled the responsible person away from the car and told him to stop what he was doing. The two primary accusers were Jeffrey Randall and a person identified only as a "former Alabama police official," whom we later determined to be Richard Hayward. "A 'good ole' boy' network refers to an informal system where white men of a similar background use their influence for their mutual benefit (and often to the detriment of those who are not part of the 'good ole' boy' network)." . During the course of this investigation OIG interviewed over 500 witnesses, including participants in the Roundup, people who were invited but did not attend, vendors to the Roundup, DOJ employees based in Southeastern offices, river raft guides, local Tennessee residents, and others. Many police organizations have faced this lopsided leadership option (McMillin, 1999). a) 1989 Allegations It continues until the supervising officers are all friends, relatives, etc. The good ol boy system is when a leader unabashedly chooses favorites among their subordinates. Gritz also highlighted that the report said 43 percent of female criminal investigators experienced a form of gender discrimination of the past four years. B. There is a popular old tale by Hans Christian Andersen (n.d.) of the emperors new clothes, where an emperor pays a significant amount of money for some magic clothes, which can only be seen by those who are wise. 1980-95, we conclude that the Roundup was not, as it was portrayed in the media stories, a "Klan rally," an intentionally "whites-only" racist gathering, or a haven for criminal conduct. Hayward was told he could not enter the campground unless all of these materials were removed. The Report documented widespread federal, state, and local law enforcement abuse of black leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and other civil rights activists who protested in the 1950s, 60s and 70s for equal rights, fair justice, and voting rights in America. Sometime after the confrontation some unidentified persons painted the words "niggers go home" and "whites only" on toilets in the campground. (1999). Because he was not shot, George Floyd will not be included in The Washington Post 's compilation of law enforcement homicides from officer-involved shootings. In the lawsuit, he says he applied for multiple positions within the department, but believes he was scored unfairly and was denied access to his interview files so he could review the decision. To call a sheriff a part of the Good Ol' Boy network, I think is an injustice," Kemp said. The preponderance of the evidence suggested that local police officers from Florence and Boone County, Kentucky, were responsible for posting these signs. Finally in October he relinquished the videotape for analysis by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and agreed to an on-the-record interview. Lexipol. We encountered numerous witnesses who were unable to supply very much information, particularly those who attended a Roundup in its earliest years. We found evidence of the unofficial sale of T-shirts during several Roundups that some persons found to be racially insensitive. These men and women have been the . Remarkably, we found no one in attendance who appeared to be offended by such activity or who sought to curb it. Findings Regarding Specific Racist Misconduct Realistically, they probably got the same recognition, despite the difference in effort. Information When the investigation began, concern was raised that federal employees might have used government time and resources to promote racist activities, in violation of Office of Government Ethics standards. Ultimately, the purported eyewitness recanted his claim. Standout: The groundbreaking new strengths assessment from the leader of the strengths revolution. Although in earlier years we found efforts by Rightmyer to ensure that women were treated appropriately and these women reported no problems, we found little evidence of concern in the later years when the objectionable conduct became pervasive. Furthermore, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in public hearings emphasized the need for a comprehensive investigation because the allegations implicated numerous law enforcement agencies in the criminal justice system. Superiors that follow the good ol boy system rarely make an effort to hide their favoritism. And although we were able to identify more who had been invited to attend, most chose not to -- some merely because the name and location suggested to them that they would not be welcome there. The initial allegations of racist conduct were made in an article in the Washington Times on July 11. Nonetheless, OIG expended considerable time, energy, and resources to determine as best we could what happened at the Roundup. Another local resident professed to have actually seen the rape during the 1988 or 1989 Roundup. We could not escape making judgments concerning their credibility. They also bring this up in the report, the club the good old boys club. Copyright 2023 Our investigation established that DOJ employees had quite diverse experiences at the Roundup. Hayward videotaped the 1990 Roundup. He contended that racist signs and an effigy of a black person were displayed at the registration desk for the entire Roundup. Surveys were sent to many agencies across Texas. In the public sphere, favoritism, cronyism, and nepotism also undermine the common good. They were welcomed at the Roundup in multiple years. Personal written invitations were sent only to those who had previously registered for a Roundup. We also coordinated with a number of other law enforcement agencies that were conducting investigations into participation by their own personnel in the Roundup, most notably the Department of Treasury Office of the Inspector General (Treasury OIG). All rights reserved. The first issue is competence. In addition, because our evaluation of DOJ employee conduct required the fullest and most accurate reconstruction possible of what had actually occurred at the Roundup, we sought to identify as many attendees of the various Roundups as we could. We found substantial evidence that the campground was a hostile environment for women especially in the later years of the Roundup. Our investigative and interviewing strategy was designed to get beyond potentially self-serving accounts. Extremely demeaning language and inappropriate sexual touching occurred. The authors suggest four opportunities to dig an organization out of an insular environment. racism and the criminal justice system, safety and preparing minority youth for interactions with police, fostering positive relationships between police and communities of color, assisting . 4 opportunities to get the organization out of the club: Applicability to policing. In numerous years, Confederate flags were displayed in various locations in and around the Roundup campground. We found substantial evidence that strippers performed at the campground year after year beginning around 1988. Unlimited access to beer twenty-four hours a day led to extreme drunkenness. On the other hand, simply attending a private, unofficial event at which a few participants engage in racist conduct and at which such behavior is not the purpose of the event should not, in most circumstances, merit punishment for the employee who attends. In conducting this investigation, the OIG's principal purposes were (1) to determine whether DOJ employees had committed acts that might warrant sanction by their components and (2) to determine whether existing standards of conduct provide adequate guidance as they relate to off-duty conduct or whether any changes in administrative policy or practice should be made. Hayward also brought a large David Duke for President banner to hang in the campground, but it was up only briefly before Roundup organizers ordered that it be taken down. Through these efforts, OIG identified nearly 1400 persons who attended the Roundup between 1980 and 1995. Apparently, the same concern and solicitude did not extend to the relatively few female law enforcement personnel who went to a Roundup. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/07/cultural-change-that-sticks, Lee, A. We will explore the seven types, what they are and look like. Randall was served with an OIG administrative subpoena for photographs of the Roundup and the original videotape, which Hayward had turned over to him. This is evident in circumstances where internal gossip runs rampant and everyone plays by a different set of rules; where peers are unwilling to share information and politics control all decisions, ultimately leading to a lack of internal transparency. WHAS11 talked to two retired LMPD officers who are African Americans. In Hayward's case, for example, the important kernels of truth contained in his 1990 videotape and in his allegation regarding a particularly egregious racist skit in 1990 were combined with other allegations that were embellishments of actual events and in many cases distortions and outright fabrications. Hayward also brought a large David Duke for President banner to hang in the campground, but it was up only briefly before Roundup organizers ordered that it be taken down. (2014). Buckingham, M. (2011). When someone is granted a position because of connections rather than because he or she has the best credentials and experience, the service that person renders to the public may be inferior. Although Hayward alleged that the tape also contained a racist "comedy" routine and was for sale at the campground, we found no corroboration for these additional claims. OIG subpoenaed computer and bank records relating to the Roundup from Gene Rightmyer, the former ATF agent who had organized and led the Roundup from 1980 through 1995. He says wonderful comforting things to the public, words that make the street deputies get goose bumps and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. In 1992, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, police officer competing in the Redneck of the Year contest performed a skit where he claimed to have found a watermelon which had fallen off the back of a passing truck, struck it until it broke open, and then pulled out a doll he had painted black. Troops do conduct evaluations of their superiors that get sent higher on the chain of command. Immediately after the skit, Rightmyer publicly criticized its participants but took no other action, such as ejecting them from the Roundup. 4) provide further training on the role of federal law enforcement officers in our society and the reasons why it is critical for law enforcement personnel to be held to extremely exacting standards of conduct to earn and maintain the full confidence of all citizens. Other substantiated allegations, such as the playing of games for monetary stakes and the consumption in isolated instances of moonshine, are addressed fully in the report. In 1990 and 1992, the same years as these signs appeared, and near where they were posted, persons whom we could not identify were checking to determine if any blacks were in any of the cars driving through the campground. We discovered, however, a huge gap between these policies, on the one hand, and actual attendance at and perceptions about the event, on the other. During this sixteen-year period, more than 1,000 people participated in the Roundup, including an estimated 500 federal, state, and local law enforcement and Department of Justice (DOJ) officials. He refused to comply with any aspect of this subpoena. Relationships matter, but they are not the only things that matter. Maintaining a healthy skepticism of your own thoughts and ideas leads to a growth mindset. As the old saying goes, "It's not what you know but who you know," or, as blogger Danny Ferguson put it, "It's not what you don't know; it's who your college roommate knows." Some spent little time at the campground where the misconduct took place; others hardly stayed at the Roundup for any period of time. Satterthwaite claims that leaders within the department will use loopholes in the system if they don't like the candidate that receives the highest ranking. And no DOJ employee was ever elected to be president or vice-president of the Roundup. Our investigation found that DOJ employees played a minor role in the official activities and organization of the Roundup. Several women in law enforcement who attended the Roundup reported feeling uncomfortable due to the vulgarity and demeanor of the male attendees. Blaming these people for the sins of others would have been unfair. One of the most basic themes in ethics is fairness, stated this way by Artistotle: "Equals should be treated equally and unequals unequally." He described the doll as a seed and told the audience that one must "kill the seed when it is young," and proceeded to beat the doll. Two troops are up for awards: One has worked their ass off, day in and day out. Former FBI agent Robyn Gritz said on Wednesday that there was a good old boys club within the premier U.S. law enforcementagencies after the Department of Justice released a report detailing gender bias in the field. The group is given inside information and preferential treatment, ultimately leading to a pyramid scheme of corruption and incompetence. All rights reserved. When the organizers learned about it, they covered over the graffiti. Instead, it is working for those in power, which crushes ongoing momentum efforts. Misappropriation of funds in local government, discrimination against businesses, or favoritism allowing certain people to do . Principal OIG Findings Copyright 2023 Corrections1. [W]e found evidence that cassette tapes of music by a performer named David Allen Coe were played during various years, including the song, "My Wife Ran Off With a Nigger.". It makes the job undesirable to those who could very likely possess the skills and training to become an asset. Those who are not within the in-group will sooner or later find themselves burnt out, as issues they raise get discarded. This woman denied that she was raped. Other substantiated allegations, such as the playing of games for monetary stakes and the consumption in isolated instances of moonshine, are addressed fully in the report. The Gallup Organization has extensively studied work engagement, with one of the best measures of work engagement being connected to the Gallup Q12 survey, which asks whether people in your organization care for you, develop you, and respect your opinion. When the rules are not universal in a police organization, it becomes very difficult to keep everyone playing by them. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The last person to be able to consume the required amount without a break was the winner. In the fourth installment of dark leadership that impedes the best in leadership, we will examine the failures of the insular leader and how they negatively impact police organizations. When there are divisions within a single unit because someone doesnt like that guy for something personal, the unit has a serious problem. The emperors new clothes.Retrieved from http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html. Over the sixteen years of the Roundup, only three percent of the total estimated number of attendees were DOJ employees. What ethical dilemmas do favoritism, cronyism, and nepotism present? However, in an investigation that examined events occurring over a sixteen-year period and involving well in excess of 1,000 participants, we cannot be sure that we have uncovered every objectionable incident. In 1995, one current and three retired Fort Lauderdale police officers confronted a white ATF agent who had come to the Roundup with two black law enforcement officers. Brian Kemp, R., are angry at Stacey Abrams' debate remarks suggesting they're "good ole boys" who target African Americans and think the media's demonization. The Roundup was also attended by white supremacists like Richard Hayward and Jeffrey Randall, who were members of a militia group based in Alabama. CLICK HERE TO TAKE A SURVEY ON TOXIC LEADERSHIP IN THE WORKPLACE, Andersen, H. (n.d.). When he filed a complaint, the lawsuit alleges LMPD command "directed and authorized efforts to intimidate, harrass and surveil" him. Moreover, we found Randall's claim to have found the "license" in a Roundup bathroom not to be credible. E. OIG Recommendations In addition, we found that because the central activity during most Roundups was the consumption of large quantities of Roundup-supplied alcohol, the organizers knowingly sacrificed the ability to control the conduct of participants. He is currently the SWAT commander and oversees the Metro Divisions Special Operations section. In 1992, he left a pile of these materials at the registration desk, which the people at the desk promptly discarded. READ MORE: UNDERSTANDING THE DARK SIDE OF LEADERSHIP PART III. Scratch my back, Ill scratch yours The day before the Roundup opened a small sign that read, "no niggers," was observed posted on a stake alongside the road into the campground. Collaborative environments are incubators for good ideas to occur. From our careful review of the evidence as to the specific allegations of racist misconduct, we found substantial credible evidence of blatantly racist signs, skits, and actions in 1990, 1992, and 1995. A problem arises, however, when a leader decides to sweep an issue under the rug. Police need to stop using excessive force, violating people’s civil rights, refusing to investigate complaints. 1. Satterthwaite, who has been with the department since 2012, says LMPD has a "clique like nature" that negatively affects morale in the department. We conclude that specific disciplinary action is not warranted for the vast majority of DOJ employees who attended the Roundup in one or more years.