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The City of West Buckle
Kile Jalop is the chief of police of the city of West Buckle. Jalop was the chief of
a smaller town and decided to move up after three years. He accepted the offer from the
mayor of West Buckle to be its Police Chief effective October 20010.
Jalop decided to talk to the previous police chief and find out why she had left
after only six months on the job. She said she couldn’t discuss the specifics because of a
confidentiality obligation but told Jalop that she left three envelopes for him in the
bottom right drawer of her desk. Jalop found that odd but respected the previous police
chief’s wishes and didn’t pursue the matter any further.
Two months after taking over as the Police Chief, Jalop received a phone call
from a local reporter who asked Jalop if he would like to comment about alleged favors
being granted to certain vendors in gaining contracts to provide training materials to city
workers. Jalop knew nothing about it so he decided to stall. He told the reporter that he
would call them back. Jalop then went to his desk, opened the bottom right drawer, and
saw the three envelopes. They were marked: open first, open second, and open last. Jalop
opened the first envelope and removed the paper inside. It said: “Tell them you are new
to the job and will have to check further before formally responding.” Jalop called back
the reporter and told him just that. The reporter seemed satisfied as two months on the
job is not very long.
Two months later several reporters showed up at Jalop’s office and asked about
alleged kickbacks in the Police Department in fixing traffic tickets for city officials.
Once again, Jalop was at a loss to answer. He started to hem and haw. The reporters
persisted in their questioning. Finally, Jalop started to scratch his head and said: “Listen,
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folks. You know I’ve only been here for four months. I’m just starting to realize that
changes need to be made. Give me a day or two and I’ll get back to all of you.”
Jalop went to his desk and opened the second envelope that said: “Tell them you
are reorganizing the Police Department.” Jalop did just that. He asked the public liaison
to call each reporter and inform each one that he is reorganizing the department. One
reporter in particular seemed impressed. He told the public relations person that the prior
chief promised to do that but never got around to it in her six months on the job.
Two months later the phones in the police station rang off the hook. Everyone
wanted to know what Jalop was going to do about the alleged embezzlement of millions
of dollars by someone in the mayor’s office. Jalop said he’s waiting for a call from the
mayor and will get back to the reporters. The reporters tell Jalop they are coming over to
the Police Headquarters and they won’t leave until they get a satisfactory explanation.
Jalop said nothing and hung up the phone.
Jalop went to his desk, opened the last envelope, pulled out the paper and read:
“Make up your three envelopes!” Jalop put down the paper, picked up the telephone, and
called his best friend, Charlie, to ask what he should do.
This case allows students to consider some of the ethical issues that affects both
businesses and government agencies alike.
Ethical Issues
Jalopy should have done a smell test before accepting the job. If the job seems too good
to be true or smells funny, Jalopy has a responsibility to follow-up. The taxpayers have a
right to know that their tax dollars are being used for which it was taxed. A kickback is a
conflict of interest and creates benefit for an individual instead of the city. Jalopy has a
responsibility to persevere and be acceptable for his job. In fairness, should he write three
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letters himself and pass the situation on to someone else or should he showing caring and
citizenship by staying to fix the problem and make the community a better place?
Questions
1. What’s wrong with granting favors to certain vendors to supply materials
under a contract with a government entity? Would your answer change if
the contract was for a private organization? Why or why not?
Granting favors to certain vendors are unfair to honest suppliers; it hard to know if
the agency is receiving the best quality or price, which can cause additional cost to
2. (a) What is a kickback? When someone makes a kickback what do you think
that person expects in return? What ethical values are violated in offering a
kickback and in accepting it?
A kickback is part of the commission or profit made paid by a vendor to the
individual who helped ensure the purchasing decision went to the vendor. A kickback
(b)What is embezzlement?
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1) Is it possible that a high ranking government official or someone in the
official’s office took money from the city for legitimate reasons even though
the amount taken was not authorized by anyone in the official’s office?
Government agencies often are faced with many policies that become almost law. As
discussed in the text, legal and ethical are not always the same things; legal may be the
minimum that is required. Both government and companies (private and public) may use
2) Is it unethical to take money from a government office without proper
approval?
Besides being unethical, it may be illegal. Many government jurisdictions have laws that
a person in charge of a financial account cannot overspend the allocated budget, or it is a
3) Would your answer be different if money was taken without approval
from a private business?
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In a sole proprietorship, the owner does not need approval to spend money; it is his
money. As a company grows and takes on more investors or employees then the approval
process becomes very important. If a sole proprietorship has many employees, the
4) What about taking money without approval from a public company?
Like the previous question and answer, the approval process more important with more
owners and owners removed from the day-to-day running of the company; it provides
documentation of one acting in accordance with the purpose of the organization. If one
takes money from a public company without permission or approval, it is stealing.
3. Assume you are in Charlie’s position and Jalop asked for your advice. What
would you say to Jalop? Use ethical reasoning to support your answer.
Charlie can advise Jalopy to get out quickly so he can dodge blame or to stay to help the
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