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. When the persons in the registration area observed the sign, it was removed. It builds espirt de corps. The Interview: Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez - The Texas Observer I, personally, served under them and would gladly fall on a sword if they asked even all these years later. Decisions that need to be made get kicked down the road and unpopular people no matter their competence have no voice. Importantly as well, there were not many options given the initial objective of finding a site for an overnight camping and whitewater rafting trip near Rightmyer's duty office in Knoxville. Look for a box or option labeled Home Page (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) or On Startup (Chrome). We determined that what began in 1980 as an unofficial gathering of 58 law enforcement officers and their friends evolved over the years into an event that by the early 1990s attracted close to 500 people, only ten percent of whom had any federal law enforcement affiliation. Instead, they share the group's racial beliefs system. Such conduct included playing music with racist lyrics at campsites; wearing, trading, and selling T-shirts with racially insensitive messages; telling racially offensive jokes during official competitions; and, in the context of particular facts found, displaying Confederate flags.
Continue reading. Both nepotism and cronyism are often at work when political parties recruit candidates for public office. Why this hurts us
But the inquiry is, by necessity, highly fact-specific. We found no evidence that any federal law enforcement personnel appears in the photograph. We also found that an atmosphere hostile to minorities -- and to women -- developed over time because inadequate action was taken by the Roundup organizers to appropriately deal with instances of racial or other kinds of misconduct.". Roundup's Racism in the Law enforcement Community Never Died. Charles Morgan started his career as a corrections officer at MECC, a level 3 facility, and then transferred to ERDCC, a level 5 facility. Other than one inappropriate comment by one FBI agent, we found no evidence that any DOJ employee engaged in racist or other misconduct while at the Roundup. We should have flying cars, human-like AI's, teleporters and more. Copyright 2023 Without these examples, the texture of the event could not be adequately communicated. He was told by a Fort Lauderdale officer that "ATF fucks up everything they touch Now you are bringing niggers to the Roundup." It begs the question of how important relationships are in the advancement of people within an organization, and how do great organizations find the balance of personal relationships? 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.
According to Fatal Encounters, George Floyd was one of 819 individuals killed during interactions with police so far in 2020. One witness also recalled that Hayward was wearing a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. mask with a bullet hole in the forehead. 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. That same day several of the Fort Lauderdale officers left the Roundup. Taunting the ATF agent about the presence of the two blacks, one of the Fort Lauderdale officers stated, "ATF fucks up everything they touch. The good ole boy system. 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. Other attendees intervened and broke up the confrontation.
Dallas Police Association president calls for end of 'good ole boy 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.
We believe we have developed a fair and accurate picture of what occurred. 7. 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." Rightmyer was interviewed by OIG twice, including an all day on-the-record interview in the latter stages of the investigation. a) Racist signs
The good ol' sheriff - Washington Post In 1995, a white ATF agent who came to the Roundup with two black officers was taunted about the presence of the black agents. Satterthwaite claims that an unmarked vehicle conducted surveillance on his home for several days, causing him to become "disturbed, frightened, confused and anxious." Will Leflore and Metro Council President David James worked with LMPD for 20 years. 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. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/bellis.NTCOFSP/Downloads/0679.pdf, Rand, S. (n.d.). We had a responsibility to set the record straight as to what actually occurred at the Roundup during a sixteen-year period. During the 16-year run of the Roundups, no FBI, DEA, or ATF agent, or other DOJ official reported this ingrained, flagrant, and sustained display of racism and sexism to the OIG or the U.S. Attorney General. Rightmyer was interviewed by OIG twice, including an all day on-the-record interview in the latter stages of the investigation. C. Findings Regarding General Allegations of Racist
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. A number of police organizations, both big and small have dealt with the good ole boy system (Lee, 2014). We determined, however, that because the Roundup campground was not isolated or well-secured, it was ill-suited for secretive racist gatherings. Although not identified as such, Randall and Hayward proved to be members of a militia group based in Alabama that sought to discredit the ATF. We determined that what began in 1980 as an unofficial gathering of 58 law enforcement officers and their friends evolved over the years into an event that by the early 1990s attracted close to 500 people, only ten percent of whom had any federal law enforcement affiliation. Unfortunately, not asking clarifying questions is a significant issue facing many police organizations complicating opportunities for the management team to do its best work. 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. Intent and a "Whites-only" Policy
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regulations prohibit federal employees from engaging in "criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct prejudicial to the government." For the most part, the Roundup attendees, who gathered each year in May at a campground near Ocoee, Tennessee, came from law enforcement agencies in the Southeast part of the United States. The phrase used by the persons engaged in the activity was 'checking cars for niggers'. b) Checking Cars
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. Accordingly, we recommend that the Department of Justice do the following:
In 1990, the investigation determined that racist signs, including the sign shown in the Hayward video, were posted on a tree in the campground for parts of one day. 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. They are here you know. It also makes us highly skeptical of anyone new coming in. In 1995, T-shirts with a crude drawing of the figure used in the children's game, "Hangman," and the initials "O" and "J" beneath the figure were sold by two officers from Fort Lauderdale. Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow. After conducting a comprehensive investigation of the Roundup from
B. In addition, allegations of criminal conduct, including narcotics distribution and rape, were raised at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing held within ten days of the original news stories. To complicate issues even more, when groupthink is rampant, police organizations begin relying on successful implementations from the past that may no longer be relevant or produce the greatest yield for the department; but because it worked before, it stands to reason that it should be an acceptable means for today. All told, our investigation took into account the statements of nearly 900 witnesses, including 560 who attended a Roundup. Corrections1 is revolutionizing the way in which the corrections community finds relevant news, Maintain a fair and consistent workplace; employees who feel that they are treated fairly and respectfully are less likely to complain or sue. Those incidents helped create and perpetuate a climate that was not welcoming towards African Americans, other minorities, or women. 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. After multiple failed attempts, Satterthwaite was elected as the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer under then-Deputy Chief Lavita Chavous. Other isolated but nevertheless significant evidence of racially offensive or insensitive conduct occurred in a number of years. The OIG acknowledged in a March 1996 Report 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." 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. The phrase used by the persons engaged in the activity was "checking cars for niggers." The interview comes after the DOJ released a report on Tuesday, revealing that women make uponly 16 percent of criminal investigative jobs within the departments central investigative agencies and hold few executive leadership positions.
Ultimately, the purported eyewitness recanted his claim. 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.
Stallard, M. (2007). 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. OIG identified forty-four past or present DOJ employees who attended at least one Roundup. Information The lawsuit, filed by Sam Aguiar on behalf of Officer Philip Satterthwaite, claims LMPD allows friends, family and favorites to receive positions over more qualified applicants, particularly Black officers. 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. Some witnesses we found to be extremely credible; others to be wholly incredible. 9. These allegations also threatened to taint the public reputation of the agencies that employed these agents.
Twenty-three of the forty-four DOJ employees attended only one Roundup; eight more went only twice. 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. In other words, many of the law enforcement-affiliated Roundup participants who were interviewed provided investigators with less than full, candid, and truthful information. In response to a request of the Deputy Attorney General, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted a wide-ranging investigation to determine whether any Department of Justice (DOJ) employees had attended the Roundup and, if so, whether they engaged in or approved of racial, criminal, or other kinds of misconduct at any of the sixteen Roundups from 1980 through 1995. These standards apply to employees' off-duty conduct in addition to their conduct on the job. In the lawsuit, Officer Philip Satterthwaite claims that LMPD officials promoted friends and family . Logically speaking, the first troop should get a higher award than the second. Pro-Kemp Georgia sheriffs furious at Stacey Abrams for 'good ole boy One of the most basic themes in ethics is fairness, stated this way by Artistotle: "Equals should be treated equally and unequals unequally." OIG investigated these allegations and concluded that none of the claims that a woman was raped at a Roundup were supported by the evidence. When the conduct was brought to the attention of Roundup organizers it was criticized and terminated. Unsubstantiated Allegations
But by failing to eject or punish any of the people known to have engaged in the misconduct, the Roundup organizers failed to deliver a strong, unequivocal message that racist conduct would not be tolerated. No DOJ employee ever served on the "REX" (Roundup Executive Committee), the group responsible for setting Roundup policies. 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. 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. h) Other Incidents
We could not escape making judgments concerning their credibility. What ethical dilemmas do favoritism, cronyism, and nepotism present. 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. In 1992, two different signs were displayed at the campground. Those who are insular limit the abilities of work engagement and limiting an organizations true potential. 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. Third, executives should be thinking about strategic succession planning rather than waiting for retirements to occur and making picks in the moment. These leaders would vehemently agree that their peers and superiors who exhibit obvious favoritism are in the wrong and are, frankly, undeserving of their position. 4thEdition. Before an officer has the chance to learn the job and learn to employ all their training and experiences we basically tell that officer we don't trust you and, until we do, you are on your own. One author has experienced time after time a working climate where people would rather be seen as smart, instead of asking the necessary clarification questions on a myriad of issues. 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. Realistically, they probably got the same recognition, despite the difference in effort. Sometime after the confrontation some unidentified persons painted the words "niggers go home" and "whites only" on toilets in the campground. We also found no evidence that any DOJ employees attended the Roundup without taking appropriate leave. Who knows if they will have our back when the time comes? The first issue is competence. This kind of environment breeds groupthink which brings with it a host of problems including, but not limited to: 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. Many of the central figures involved in staging the Roundup over the years were also interviewed. A lot of the Texas law enforcement is still the good ol' boys, and the good ol' boys never, never want to be managed by anyone other than good ol' boys. 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.
The person who observed the sign reported that it was gone within half an hour. Golfing partners, people who come over for Sunday dinner, members of the same congregation all are likely to exert a greater influence over an official than a stranger might. 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. 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. Catmull, E. (2014). An old boy network (also known as old boys' network, ol' boys' club, old boys' club, old boys' society, good ol' boys club, or good ol' boys system) is an informal system in which wealthy men with similar social or educational background help each other in business or personal matters. Texas Department of Criminal Justice "good ole boy" Reviews Simply put: If someone does something wrong, their ass is grass. Avoidance of critical thinking during planning efforts: People dont criticize plans that are rolled out by power players, thereby not really putting our best foot forward. OIG made special efforts to interview persons from many federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, and to interview a large number of participants who had no law enforcement affiliation. While we conclude that the organizers did not specifically intend for the Roundup to be a "whites-only" racist gathering, we were able to identify only twenty individual members of minority groups, including four blacks, who ever attended a Roundup. 'Good ole boy system': LMPD officer files lawsuit accusing department of bias, discrimination. If someone is accused of wrongdoing, its up to a jury of their peers to determine their fate. If a toxic leader surrounds him or herself with only people that nod, agree, and kiss their ass, theyll see no need for improvement. Principal OIG Findings
In part this lack of understanding is the result of very general provisions that govern off-duty conduct. This process is a cancer that eats away your staff until the only remaining experienced staff you have are beyond disgruntled. They were welcomed at the Roundup in multiple years. In 1992, T-shirts with a pocket drawn on the upper left of the shirt, a drawing of the head of the character Buckwheat from the old television show "Little Rascals," and the words "Good Ole Boys '92" written on the pocket were offered for sale by some unidentified person or persons. 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. 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. Blaming these people for the sins of others would have been unfair. We believe that such off-duty responsibilities are not well-understood by many DOJ employees. At the least, they may choose to recuse themselves from votes where social relationships may exert undue influence. . We conclude that the name "Good O' Boy" was not selected or used with the intent to send a message that the event was racially exclusive. 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. The 9News Investigators found records of two paychecks made out to Jimmy Jones after his resignation date of April 28, 2015. Substantiated Allegations
Even where we developed substantial evidence that acts of misconduct took place, we have not in every case been able to identify who was responsible, despite determined efforts to do so. 8. We found evidence of the unofficial sale of T-shirts during several Roundups that some persons found to be racially insensitive. We found no evidence that any racial restrictions, either explicit or implicit, were placed on the distribution of these invitations. 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.
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regulations prohibit federal employees from engaging in "criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct prejudicial to the government." Nor, as the initial news accounts suggested, was the Roundup dominated by federal law enforcement personnel. Moreover, we found Randall's claim to have found the "license" in a Roundup bathroom not to be credible. Hayward videotaped the 1990 Roundup. He eventually parked his car off to the side, removed the offensive clothing, and was permitted to enter. Racist skits were performed in 1990 and 1992.