Do choices matter, and how long do they matter? As a national ethics keynote speaker, organizational ethics consultant and book author, I debate these two questions with audience members, all of the time.
No one remembers? Don’t believe it.
In the realm of choices, consequences and second chances, one of the usual points of discussion comes after someone makes the following declarative statement: “Society has the attention span of a gnat. No one remembers from one year to the next.”
Don’t believe it.
On August 23, 2023, the Chicago Tribune (journalist Jake Sheridan) ran an article entitled: “Riverside rallies in support of police officer decertified for $14.99 retail theft in 2008.”
The police officer, Zenna Ramos, was arrested in 2008 for stealing a T-shirt. At the time, she was 22-years-old. She buried her past, made it onto the Cicero Police Force, and transferred to the Riverside (IL) police department. However, her crime came back to haunt her and she was just de-certified as a police officer nationwide.
According to the article:
“The state police certification authority told an attorney for the western suburb [Riverside] that law compelled the finding and the misdemeanor charge Ramos faced would harm her ability to effectively serve as an officer by potentially making her court testimony not credible with jurors.”
After her arrest and release, Zenna Ramos dedicated her life to making good choices. Said writer Sheridan:
“In the years since the theft, Ramos has gone to school to study criminal justice, worked as a Cicero community service officer and served for a year as a Cicero police officer.”
Following the under $20 crime, she has led an exemplary life.
Those at her new job and new city concur with the quality of Ramos’ service:
“’Yes, she made a mistake in 2008,’ Riverside’s public safety director, Matthew Buckley, said at a news conference Tuesday held in support of Ramos. ‘But what she has done since that day is the important part.’”
Second chance?
The powers that be are asking the state police certification authority to reconsider. Ramos herself has been nothing but contrite:
“I took responsibility for my actions, and I felt that I did everything right to better myself for myself and my family, so I could be a police officer, so I could help people who are dealing with circumstances that I’ve dealt with.”
For the record, Ramos never hid her 2008 arrest from the Riverside authorities. In fact, they feared that at any time the shoe could drop. In March 2023, “the standards board sent a letter with questions about Ramos’ background to Riverside police leaders seeking her recertification, the department responded with a letter acknowledging and accepting the 2008 theft charges.”
The board denied the request to have the Ramos “disqualifying misdemeanor” overlooked. under Illinois state law. The board also stated:
“Past behavior is a logical predictor of future behavior…the person who steals once is always thought a thief.” The board also found another charge against Ramos in 2003 (when she was 17-years-old) for retail theft. Allegedly, Ramos came from an abusive background
Now, it has become a matter of the police board versus the city and police department.
“Buckley told the Tribune the charges against Ramos were vacated, dropped and expunged after she successfully completed a conditional discharge term of six months. Buckley argued that she was never convicted. [the board] however, wrote… that “conditional discharge” should be considered a conviction.”
To be sure, Ramos could possibly work in another state, and on another force, where second chances are possible. She wants to stay in Riverside. I might point out that this action would prevent an officer who committed a petty crime in another state and wanting to relocate to Illinois, impossible to do so. As an ethics motivational keynote speaker, ethics consultant and book author, this sets up an interesting study in choices and consequences.
Is the state police certification authority obligated to change its mind? Of course not. Should it change its mind and policies? That is clearly another matter. I feel that Zenna Ramos should be considered for a second chance in the case of a petty theft charge 15-years-ago and I am sure we’ve not heard the end to this debate. It will be interesting to track.
What never ends however, are consequences. If the situation doesn’t work out for Zenna Ramos, it will not surprise me. We all, ultimately, have life choices to make. “Relative” penalties do not hold up in life.
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