Pinstriped Wall of Silence!

So, now a pinstriped (prosecutors) wall of silence joins the “blue” (cops), “white” (doctors) and “black” (priests) wall of silence. Time to recognize these walls as a generic feature of organizations dominated by members of a primary occupational group who “understand” why corners may be cut, may themselves do it and, therefore, reflexively defend colleagues who do get caught.  Viewpoints.

FBI–Perfect in Every Way

School test cheating scandals are often uncovered when investigators follow-up on statistically implausible results.  Well, the FBI is apparently batting a thousand, by its own calculation, in the justifiability of agent-involved shootings. And, consistent with the self-protective institutionalization the FBI has so often demonstrated (see FBI Labs, Ruby Ridge, Sentinel), the agency offers several self-congratulatory reasons for its perfect batting average. We’ll see but methinks warts are hidden in that perfect profile. .

Why Did LA’s “Shadow Sheriff” Resign?

Why Did LA’s “Shadow Sheriff” Resign?.  Good question! A larger question may be whether there’s a relationship between long-lived leaders and organizations that start fraying at the seams, although Sheriff Baca, who started in the agency 50 years ago and has led it for 15, was just named Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriff’s Association.

Philly Ticket Fixing Breaks

This report, commissioned by the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, set the stage for recent indictments of Philadelphia Traffic Court judges.  The Chief Justice, however, will no longer be commissioning traffic court reports.  His fellow justices assigned his oversight role to another judge in part, some suspect, because the report un-collegially cited the “consideration” shown a fellow Justice’s wife by Traffic Court functionaries. http://articles.philly.com/2012-11-22/news/35258842_1_traffic-court-judge-willie-singletary-judge-robert-mulgrew 

Institutionalized Family Court

An organization whose actions are largely governed by its members’ perceptions of what ought to be done, notwithstanding what laws, rules, stakeholders or even markets require, is suffering from a grave condition–institutionalization.  Now New York’s Family Court won’t die from it, but Kodak might, Olympus will be in the ICU for a while, and IBM almost succumbed to the condition in the 1990s.  In varying degrees at varying times this affliction takes hold of the FBI, and the FAA; and most urban public school systems are just emerging from prolonged institutionalization comas.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/nyregion/at-new-york-family-courts-rule-for-public-access-isnt-heeded.html