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Developing a Rights-Based Policing Model: The Role of Ethical Leadership
Fri, September 13, 3:30 to 4:45pm, Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest, Floor: Ground floor, Amphitheater 2 „Nicolae Titulescu”Abstract
Extensive criticisms of the police have focused on abuses of human rights, including gender-and race-based violence perpetrated against women and members of minority communities. However, these abuses are not restricted to the external environment; various investigations and reports have highlighted these same issues within police organizations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and in other international jurisdictions. To date, there is limited understanding of the factors that contribute to human rights abuses within police organizations or how they might be reduced. To address these gaps, data were collected from two police organizations in North America: one mid-size and one large (N=339; 3,779). Through data from both civilian and sworn police personnel, the findings illustrate how police organizational cultures that promote dominance over others, along with the failure of organizational members to speak up about rights abuses and the dismissal of those who do speak up, cause internal rights abuses to persist. The findings further illustrate the role of ethical leadership as a potential point of intervention. Specifically, the findings suggest that police leaders who communicate expectations for ethical behavior, model ethical behavior themselves, and hold people accountable for their actions, can influence the actions of followers, thereby mitigating the negative effects of police culture and a climate of silence. In other words, rights-based abuses within police organizations can be reduced through ethical leadership. Following from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Human Rights Standards for Law Enforcement, and the results from these two studies, this paper next explores how ethical leadership can help influence a policing model that promotes and upholds the rights of all people, including police personnel and the communities they serve.