WASHINGTON — The old saying goes: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
The FBI, pointing to a lesson in history when power corrupted, has been taking about 1,000 special agents each year from the FBI Training Academy to the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington as part of a lesson on “what can happen when law enforcement loses sight of what is right,” according to a story posted on the front page of the FBI website. The program has been going on for 10 years.
The “Lessons of the Holocaust” is a joint partnership between the Anti-Defamation League and the museum. The ADL often works closely with the FBI.
“It makes our people think about morality, ethics, and how to maintain those during turbulent times,” FBI special agent Douglas B. Merel, who teaches the Academy’s ethical leadership course for new agents that includes the museum program, said in the FBI story. “It shows how important it is for law enforcement to maintain their core values.”
The story goes on to talk about a recent 4-hour visit on a Friday morning by about 50 agents-to-be and how they talked about what separates them from the law enforcement officers in Germany during the Nazi era.
“It’s really our hope that the law enforcement officers who come to the museum see this program, see this history, and really reflect on their professional core values and their role in society today,” Marcus A. Appelbaum, who coordinates the museum’s community and leadership programs, said in the story.
