This list of transgressions by Oklahoma sheriffs and deputies in recent years is why Franklin Smith is in Oklahoma City this week lecturing sheriffs and their top officers on qualities like self-control, honor and truthfulness.

An instructor with the consulting group Police Dynamics, Smith is teaching a two-day course emphasizing character building for members of the Oklahoma Sheriff's Association.

"If you equip yourself to fully embrace and follow the principles of good character, then you can do your best at being able to avoid those pitfalls," Smith said.

Several high-profile cases of misconduct by sheriffs have fostered mistrust among some citizens, said Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel, president of the association.

In March, a former Custer County Sheriff was sentenced to 79 years in prison for sexually abusing female inmates. Two months ago, a sheriff and his top deputy in McIntosh County pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally seize money from drivers. Another sheriff was booted from office after he admitted he allowed a teenage girl to drink wine coolers and vodka while riding in his vehicle.

"When that happens it tarnishes the badge of every sheriff in the state of Oklahoma," Whetsel said.

The two-day training — mainly lectures and discussions — focuses on 49 qualities that help define good character, like discretion, loyalty, tolerance and sensitivity. There is discussion

"In your official capacity, you do not represent yourself," Ray Nash, founder of Summerville, S.C.-based Police Dynamics, said in an introduction video on the group's Web site. "Your ego, your goals, your agenda are irrelevant to the accomplishment of the police mission.

"Anger, lust and greed. I can tell you that most instances of police misconduct can be traced back to one of these character flaws at work in this officer's life."

Shouldn't most sheriffs already have sufficient training and background to ensure good character?

"I think it's good to have a refresher," said Noble County Sheriff Charlie Hanger, one of the participants. As a state trooper 14 years ago, he arrested Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh during a traffic stop 75 minutes after the deadly explosion.

"From time to time as human beings sometimes we become complacent," Hangar said. "We need to be reminded of these core values. It's easy to get consumed by life."

Ideally, any elected official would come into office with a high standard of ethics and character, but that's not always the case, said Ken McNair, executive director of the Oklahoma Sheriff's Association.

"Realistically, everyone that's elected to any office comes from the general public, and therefore we have that same range that's in the general public themselves," he said.

Whetsel said he has sent about 200 supervisors in his department through the program in the last five years, and that he's seen them become better leaders by example.

"By the nature of their position, sheriffs do have a power. It's how they use that to either benefit their citizens or benefit themselves," Whetsel said. "Ethics directs you to use that power to benefit your citizens. The lack of ethics directs you to use that power to benefit yourself."