Ethics and Integrity
The ethics program in the U.S. Marshals Service is administered by the Office of General Counsel. Within the Office of General Counsel are members of the Ethics Team who advise employees, provide ethics training, collect and review public and confidential financial disclosure reports filed by employees required to complete such reports on an annual basis, and complete ethics reports, as required, that are sent to the Department of Justice and the Office of Government Ethics.
The U.S. Marshals Service is committed to the highest standards of ethical behavior as a law enforcement agency entrusted with important authorities on behalf of the American public. To uphold these high ethical standards, all U.S. Marshals Service employees are made aware of important ethics rules and policies on a continuous basis, and many receive annual ethics training.
A larger number of employees from all 94 districts and divisions request, receive, and rely on ethics advice and assistance provided by the Ethics Team attorneys.
Basic Tenets
One of the most important concepts of public service is that federal officials act only in the public interest without consideration of their private interests. In situations where there is or may be a conflict of interest between these two competing interests, U.S. Marshals Service employees must either disqualify themselves from acting in a matter or eliminate the private interest. Another imperative is that no federal official may misuse his/her position.
U.S. Marshals Service employees are regularly reminded of the rules in this regard and enforcement of these rules is rigorous. We are committed to upholding the highest levels of integrity of our law enforcement officers in particular and of our administrative employees. To that end, the U.S. Marshals Service expends whatever resources are necessary to provide ethics training, ethics advice, and if needed, forceful enforcement.
The following resources provide the basic framework of the ethics rules, regulations and policies essential for compliance with the extensive federal ethics program implemented to ensure public confidence in the conduct of federal officials.
- Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch
- Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Department of Justice
- Department of Justice Employee Responsibilities
- Department of Justice Ethics website
Lisa Dickinson, General Counsel
Robert Marcovici, Ethics Officer