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| NEWS > 02 December 2007 |
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Some ethics twist truth like a
By Francis Shrum
I've been studying business ethics, and it's been causing me a little mental discomfort.
The problem is that I always believed that people believed what they believed and behaved accordingly. Good people did good things and had good results. People bent on misbehaving generally wound up suffering for it.
Unfortunately, today's world isn't governed by what is good and what is bad, nor by what is right or what is wrong. Nobody can agree on something as simple as that.
No, we needed something that everybody can agree on, which is, ba... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Stamford Advocate - Stamford,C
02 December 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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New Canaan Police Department,
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New Canaan police review ethic
Eleven New Canaan police officers crossed an ethical line when they accepted discounted service from an alarm company, but the subsequent investigation reveals confusion about where that line was drawn.
Some of the officers said they believed the deals the company cut were common knowledge. Officers as high-ranking as a lieutenant accepted the service, they said.
In interviews, the officers mentioned other businesses that offered discounts to police.
New Canaan Police Chief Edward Nadriczny concluded that the officers' confusion arose because the department's Manual of Conduct and Discipline does not have a section dealing specifically with gifts. The police commission ruled in October that each officer who received the gifts would receive a written reprimand. Five officers are appealing the ruling to the state Labor Board, which is expected to take several months to render a decision.
Ethical concerns are more likely to arise when individual officers make arrangements with citizens or businesses; not all gifts or discounts are compromising, Nadriczny said.
A box of cookies dropped off for the department or a discount for law enforcement as a class, like those offered to senior citizens or teachers, is acceptable when there is no expectation of a favor in return, he said.
Luis Lopez, owner of the restaurant Chef Luis in New Canaan, reduces the tab for firefighters, police, emergency services personnel and charities' employees.
"Basically, we are trying to give back to the community," Lopez said. "I get pulled over like anybody else."
The alarm company had no set policy and the deals varied widely, though the exact values could not be determined.
Nadriczny plans to update the rules, but said he could not provide specifics until the changes are finalized.
His department is accredited every three years by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, a national organization. A department must have a code of conduct to become accredited, but the specifics of that code are determined by the department and its community, said James Brown, associate director of the commission. About 1,000 departments nationwide are accredited by the commission or are working toward it.
The Greenwich Police Department, which is not accredited, forbids gifts or discounts, said Lt. Daniel Allen, a department spokesman.
In Stamford, departmental rules and the town's ethics ordinance leave room for discretion by forbidding the acceptance of gifts from anyone who might later seek preferential treatment.
The town sets a ceiling of $50, but the department forbids accepting any gift for a service rendered in the line of duty.
Sometimes a person just wants to do something nice, and an officer must judge the intentions behind a gift, said Sgt. Joseph Kennedy, police union president.
"You leave it to common sense," he said. "You know what is right and wrong."
The police investigation does little to clarify the intentions of New Canaan Alarm Company's owner, Paul Chludzinski.
Chludzinski initially denied that he mentioned his police customers to other potential buyers. Later, he told an investigator, "I can say whatever I want."
The investigation also mentions that portions of a thank you letter written by an officer appeared on the company's Web site.
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