The 9News Investigators found records of two paychecks made out to Jimmy Jones after his resignation date of April 28, 2015. He also alleged that ATF agents surrounded cars entering the campground and shouted, "Got any niggers in that car?" The only identifying information we received was that an unspecified person from Ohio and another from Mississippi possessed one of these tapes. We believe we have developed a fair and accurate picture of what occurred. Worst yet are those organizations that seek improvement in this area and bring in another person to fix, who ultimately repeats the same thing in the attempt of changing the organization. In the change process, the new leader creates more of the same, as the only thing that changes are the players, not the game (Katzenbach, Steffen, & Kronley, 2012). Most people of interracial goodwill have never heard of Gene Rightmyer, the former Knoxville, Tennessee-based ATF agent who organized and led the Good Ol' Boys Roundup (Roundup) from 1980 through 1995. I, personally, served under them and would gladly fall on a sword if they asked even all these years later. Thus, whether intended or not, the Roundup was in fact predominantly a gathering of whites. On two occasions the Redneck of the Year contest contained blatantly racist material. When several months later OIG requested that he submit to an interview on a range of topics including his supposed discovery of a "nigger hunting license" at the 1995 Roundup or the militia plan "Operation Achilles Heel," whose stated goal was to discredit ATF, Randall refused and renewed these threats in more graphic terms. We found no information to identify who was responsible for this sign. What do favoritism, cronyism, and nepotism have to do with ethics? Racist signs, bumper stickers, hats, banners, and other display items littered the campground site when Hayward and Randall attended the Roundups. Despite reports that prostitutes were present during various Roundups, we found no evidence that anyone was solicited for prostitution or that sex was exchanged for money. However, we found no evidence linking DOJ employees to acts of public drunkenness, public lewdness, or any of the other sordid aspects of the Roundup in any specific or persistent way. We will attempt to promote the best in leadership for police organizations and hopefully eradicate some poor leadership qualities along the way. All told, our investigation took into account the statements of nearly 900 witnesses, including 560 who attended a Roundup. OIG investigated these allegations and concluded that none of the claims that a woman was raped at a Roundup were supported by the evidence. Op/Ed: Employment And Crime. Copyright 2023 In addition to the persons who brought allegations of racism to light, OIG sought to interview persons who were identified as having committed racially offensive acts. Extremely demeaning language and inappropriate sexual touching occurred. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/crsj Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, and the Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons Recommended Citation Kami Chavis Simmons, Beginning to End Racial Profiling: Definitive Solutions to an Elusive Problem, 18 Findings Regarding Specific Racist Misconduct Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. We found no evidence that any federal law enforcement personnel appears in the photograph. Development opportunities go to the in crowd. We hope that our effort to deal fully and carefully with disturbing allegations against officers responsible for enforcing our federal criminal laws will promote the fair administration of justice and the public's confidence in the ability of the Department of Justice to police itself. Seek out advice, if your world becomes too insular, it limits your creativity. ~ Georgina Chapman, Brian Ellis, Anthony H. Normore, & Mitch Javidi National Command and Staff College. Poor decisions are made, costing the organization credibility and destroying public confidence. Contact Mike for services Life Coaching, Training, Team Building, Corporate Training, Project Management, and Public Speaking Indeed, we recognized that the persons who attended the Roundup may have had a motive to conceal or minimize the instances of racial or other kinds of misconduct in order to make their attendance at a Roundup appear more benign than it might have been. When friendships or subjective issues are focal points of promotions it sends an organizational message that the pathway for advancement is not working hard. Randall was served with an OIG administrative subpoena for photographs of the Roundup and the original videotape, which Hayward had turned over to him. Vari Hall, Santa Clara University500 El Camino RealSanta Clara, CA 95053408-554-5319, Ethical Considerations for COVID-19 Vaccination, Hackworth Fellowships Project Showcase 2021, The Ethics of Going Back to School in a Pandemic, Systemic Racism, Police Brutality, and the Killing of George Floyd, COVID-19: Ethics, Health and Moving Forward, The Ethical Implications of Mass Shootings, Political Speech in the Age of Social Media, Point/Counterpoint: Democratic Legitimacy, Brett Kavanaugh and the Ethics of the Supreme Court Confirmation Process. Second, although our primary task was to assess the allegations of racism as they reflected on DOJ employees, we learned that the Roundup in fact had been marred by a number of serious and disturbing incidents of racial and other kinds of misconduct. Twenty-three of the forty-four DOJ employees attended only one Roundup; eight more went only twice. II. Also, because favoritism is often covert (few elected officials are foolish enough to show open partiality to friends, and family), this practice undercuts the transparency that should be part of governmental hiring and contracting processes. Thus, we had a responsibility to gather as much evidence as possible on the experiences of the DOJ personnel who attended the Roundup so we could absolve the innocent as well as blame the guilty. B. In 1985, an unidentified local deputy sheriff pulled a statue of a black figure, referred to as a "lawn jockey," out of his camper and tied his dog to it before being told to put it back in his camper. These people are so bitter that they spend most trying to screw over each other in order to make themselves feel better. 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). Solely on our findings, an appropriate sanction would be a reprimand, either written or oral. A. DOJ Participation 8. If true and if committed by DOJ law enforcement officers, we would be confronted with very serious questions about the officers' fitness to serve, their ability to discharge their law enforcement duties, and their right to wear a federal badge. Many police organizations have faced this lopsided leadership option (McMillin, 1999). The caption of the photo on the T-shirt read, "Boyz on the Hood." 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. f) T-shirts Only one DOJ employee, now retired, served in an official organizational capacity as an "MOB," which stood for the "members of the board" or "mean old bastards," the group with responsibility for cooking, registration, and official recreational activities. Finally in October he relinquished the videotape for analysis by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and agreed to an on-the-record interview. Instead of promoting someone whose skills and abilities compliment your strengths and fills in your weaknesses you promote Bob. In the Redneck of the Year skit, "a dog was traded for a man in blackface who then pretended to perform oral sex on a person in mock Ku Klux Klan garments." In 1992 and 1993, Hayward openly distributed former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's presidential campaign literature and souvenirs, as well as materials publicizing the National Association for the Advancement of White People. However, too often these are disregarded because superiors are told things are fine by the sycophants. The preponderance of the evidence suggested that local police officers from Florence and Boone County, Kentucky, were responsible for posting these signs. He was told by a Fort Lauderdale officer that "ATF fucks up everything they touch Now you are bringing niggers to the Roundup." Although we found credible evidence that Rightmyer gave speeches exhorting participants to stop such behavior, his efforts were sporadic at best and essentially went unheeded. Apparently, the same concern and solicitude did not extend to the relatively few female law enforcement personnel who went to a Roundup. Information Maintaining a healthy skepticism of your own thoughts and ideas leads to a growth mindset. The last person to be able to consume the required amount without a break was the winner. 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. Thats just a fact of life. The Roundups started in a rural part of Tennessee approximately four years after the April 29, 1976 Report on COINTELPRO, which was authored by Senators Frank Church (D-Idaho) and John Tower (R-Texas), was issued and published in the Congressional Record. In the lawsuit, Officer Philip Satterthwaite claims that LMPD officials promoted friends and family members over better-qualified candidates. In 1989 and other unspecified years we found evidence that cassette tapes of music by a performer named David Allen Coe were played at various campsites, including a song named "My Wife Ran Off With a Nigger." 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. Finally, a full investigation of the Roundup was necessary because these allegations had a large potential impact on the administration of the federal criminal justice system and the character and reputation of federal law enforcement officers When the conduct was brought to the attention of Roundup organizers it was criticized and terminated. 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 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?? An exhaustive investigation and a full report of the Good O' Boy Roundup was important for several reasons. Despite evidence that the Roundup organizers officially discouraged such performances, their efforts to exercise control were half-hearted at best. In the lawsuit, Officer Philip Satterthwaite claims that LMPD officials promoted friends and family . Indeed, by 1990, law enforcement officers -- federal, state, and local -- were outnumbered by participants who had no such affiliation. For more information about government ethics programs and resources contact John Pelissero. Unlimited access to beer twenty-four hours a day led to extreme drunkenness. This interviewing strategy was designed to ferret out as much information from as many different sources as possible to minimize the chances that racial or other kinds of misconduct might be concealed from us. 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. In 2019, Bryan County law enforcement officials responded to 661 domestic violence calls. Unsubstantiated Allegations Good Ol boys club. Copyright 2023 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. Because of the lack of controls placed on the distribution of fliers once they reached particular offices, the extent to which they were brought to the attention of the agents in these offices varied. 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. Solely on our findings, an appropriate sanction would be a reprimand, either written or oral. 1 . Buckingham, M. (2011). This investigation involved a murky and difficult area -- the responsibilities of federal employees generally, and federal law enforcement personnel in particular, to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with their law enforcement responsibilities even when they are off duty. In any event, no one was punished for posting them. 1. Likewise, no federal, state, or local law enforcement agent was fired because of his participation in the Roundups. 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. 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. 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. Stallard, M. (2007). Self-censorship: People avoid deviating from the norms of the group and would rather fit in over having a better answer. The caption read, "Boyz on the Hood." He left the Roundup a few hours later. 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). Being a federal law enforcement officer within the Department of Justice is a privilege not a right; it can appropriately be conditioned on maintaining a proper level of behavior at all times. Superiors that follow the good ol boy system rarely make an effort to hide their favoritism. And no DOJ employee was ever elected to be president or vice-president of the Roundup. We found no evidence that such "licenses" were widely available at the Roundup; indeed, we found no one other than Randall who claimed to have seen one in the campground. 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. Both of these individuals are affectionately coddled and protected by at least one magistrate and two sitting U.S. District Court judges on the federal bench for the Northern District of Alabama. In addition, a former ATF agent in an interview subsequent to his Senate hearing testimony alleged for the first time that in 1987 he heard from another ATF agent that a woman had been raped by an ATF agent at the Roundup. He has written articles for several publications, including Law Enforcement Today, Peace Officers Research Association of California, Police One, The Oxford University Press, The Journal of California Law Enforcement; and has contributed to chapters in IGI Global Publishing textbooks. Moreover, we found Randall's claim to have found the "license" in a Roundup bathroom not to be credible. Although our investigation established that the Roundup was nothing like a "Klan rally," the fact that specific acts of racist misconduct occurred in three different years made more difficult our assessment of the general charge that the Roundup had a "whites-only" attendance policy. Nor, as the initial news accounts suggested, was the Roundup dominated by federal law enforcement personnel. Why this hurts us Some witnesses we found to be extremely credible; others to be wholly incredible. CAIRO, Ga. It was Election Day in Grady County, and Sheriff Harry Young, 76, had hardly slept three hours the night before. When the organizers learned about it, they covered over the graffiti. Hayward and his attorney terminated the interview shortly after the questioning turned to Hayward's own white supremacist views and activities. The good ole boy system is a haven for groupthink, as the more group-focused the leadership team becomes, the less people are thinking and/or challenging each other. Regardless of their source, if true, these allegations threatened to seriously undermine the ability of these agents to perform their critical missions, particularly enforcing federal criminal law, upholding civil rights laws, and providing equal protection under the law. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, MIGHTY NETWORKS, 2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, Colonel Paris Davis received the Medal of Honor nearly 60 years after he earned it in Vietnam, The Military Has A Toxic Leadership Problem, Odierno: Army Not a 'Good Ol' Boy Network' | Military.com, Competition VS Good Old Boy Club | RallyPoint. Hayward was told he could not enter the campground unless all of these materials were removed. OIG investigated each of these claims as well, most of which were initially contained in affidavits of two women submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee in July. 7. He eventually parked his car off to the side, removed the offensive clothing, and was permitted to enter. In addition to charges of racism, allegations of criminal or other misconduct were also raised. F. Conclusion We also found substantial credible evidence of racially insensitive conduct in 1985, 1987, 1989, and 1993. 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. Half of the DOJ participants did not go to any Roundups after 1988 -- a significant fact because no egregious racist misconduct was alleged to have occurred prior to 1989. Businesses with higher Q12 scores experience higher productivity, profitability, customer satisfaction, and less liability (Buckingham, 2011). . Hayward and his attorney terminated the interview shortly after the questioning turned to Hayward's own white supremacist views and activities. Verifying the allegations, therefore, required assessing the accuracy and reliability of testimony given by witnesses. We have referred to the Director of the FBI a report with respect to this one current FBI employee for whom we recommend that punishment be considered for his behavior at the Roundup. #3. We also found no evidence that any DOJ employees attended the Roundup without taking appropriate leave. After conducting a comprehensive investigation of the Roundup from In part this lack of understanding is the result of very general provisions that govern off-duty conduct. Through these efforts, OIG identified nearly 1400 persons who attended the Roundup between 1980 and 1995. Understanding the basic needs of people, appreciating the contributions of others, and helping them achieve their potential are building blocks of successful organizations (Stallard, 2007). The largest number of DOJ employees in attendance in any given year was eleven, a level reached twice, once out of approximately 400 attendees in 1986 and then again out of 520 attendees in 1994. Another aspect of this system affects promotions and post assignments. An exhaustive investigation and a full report of the Good O' Boy Roundup was important for several reasons. Insular is a road to not knowing what you should already know, and as a result not allowing your organization to fulfill its highest potential. Inmates who seem to threaten law suits and or . If we were able to do away with the "club" morale and job satisfaction would greatly increase. In the early years a contest called the Beer Enduro took place, requiring participants to drink a specified quantity of beer at regular intervals. CLICK HERE TO TAKE A SURVEY ON TOXIC LEADERSHIP IN THE WORKPLACE, Andersen, H. (n.d.). For 1989, we received numerous allegations of racist conduct, most of which were made by Richard Hayward. The Uniform Code of Military Justice is very clear. His component, however, must assess this conduct in light of the employee's history. They dont get in trouble with command, but theyre not the most people-friendly person youve met. One was from May 13th in the amount of $1,280.79 and another on May . The next day Rightmyer told the offenders that blacks were welcome at the Roundup and if they did not like it, they should leave. We thus concluded that in choosing the Roundup's location, its organizers did not have a racist intent, although the perceptions among minorities that they would not be welcome was an unintended consequence of the selected site. This impacts the department in multiple ways such as: 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. 3. 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. The good ol boy system is when a leader unabashedly chooses favorites among their subordinates. Remarkably, we found no one in attendance who appeared to be offended by such activity or who sought to curb it. Immediately after the skit, Rightmyer publicly criticized its participants but took no other action, such as ejecting them from the Roundup. Arrests Are Plummeting. OIG also found insufficient evidence to conclude that a racist sign was displayed in any part of the campground during the 1989 Roundup. Also, "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. Twenty-three of the forty-four DOJ employees attended only one Roundup; eight more went only twice. It seems, in my experience, the higher the custody level of the institution, the stronger the system. If they do pretend it doesnt exist, troops will catch on and word will spread quickly through the ranks. Brian Ellis is a 20-year veteran of the Sacramento Police Department. Although we conclude that much of the early Roundup news coverage was overblown and distorted, our investigation revealed ample evidence of shocking racist, licentious, and puerile behavior by attendees occurring in various years. When the organizers of the Roundup learned about the signs, they ordered the signs taken down. Even though our assessment is that an inadequate evidentiary basis exists to recommend discipline for any of the other DOJ employees whose conduct we considered, we are extremely troubled by many of the excesses committed by non-DOJ attendees at the Roundup that developed during the mid-1980s and grew far worse during the years 1990-95. Rules are paramount to maintaining order and uniformity in the military. This group of participants affiliated with DOJ constitutes approximately three percent of the estimated total number of attendees at the sixteen Roundups.