Ethics : Defining Police Ethics

Lack of training and policing standards are closely linked to the myriad problems bedeviling police work, especially in small departments (Brodeur, 2010). All over the country, police departments report cases of officers being caught in uncompromising and unprofessional situations, resulting in disciplinary actions such as redeployment, suspension or sacking. These cases of unprofessionalism have led to questions being asked about policing, occasioned by recurring series of questionable and controversial encounters with police officers (Brodeur, 2010). The consequence of such encounters is increasing public distrust in law enforcement agencies.

It is important that police officers be ethical especially while on the job. An officer’s

As each new member of a police department officially becomes a sworn member, friends, family and other members of the public gather as they speak an oath. The oath these officers take, promises their commitment to ensure the safety of the public they serve. This means more than protecting civilians from individuals who may stray from the law, but to also ensure the protection of basic human rights. Police and other public servants are given a great deal of trust and power, what they do with it is based on the ethics they choose to uphold. In this paper we will look at why it is important for these justice professionals to study ethics.

The criminal justice system is one of the most important components in the public service system. Since it is a system that citizens encounter daily it would be most beneficial for those who are employed to behave as ethical leaders. Leadership skills and ethical behavior are both parts of the duties of any officer serving the law. Often employees are placed in quick decision situations that can have fatal outcomes if not handled properly. By ensuring that all officers of the law have a set of functioning ethical leadership skills can not only develop a well-rounded individual, but also builds the relationship between the community they serve to protect. The police and other officers of the law have great discretion and power over an individual which makes having responsible, ethically behaving persons on the front lines even more important. With the right training and education, ethical officers can set the bar and improve the quality of life of the community they serve as well as other officers.

Over the years, the nature of policing has changed and developed drastically. Their role not only entails crime fighting and emergency response, but also social enforcement and social peacekeeping. Bound by a code of ethics, this highly demanding role asks police to remain professional in their dealings with society, and ensure they uphold the law impartially and fairly. When it comes to enforcing the law, it is important to look at the methods and approaches taken by police in order to combat crime, and whether or not they meet current ethical standards. Although this may be the case, it is also important to acknowledge that aspects of police culture such as loyalty, deception and protection of colleagues will ultimately shape the nature of approach to resolving crime, gaining helpful information and protecting fellow officers. Police officers are granted large amounts of discretion within their roles, however, when officers deliberately abuse this amount of discretion and become display misconduct, it becomes challenging to limit discretionary authority of police officers because of the frequent circumstances they encounter where deception may provide highly constructive outcomes. Throughout this essay, methods used by police officers including entrapment, wiretapping and planting of evidence will be assessed for their strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, the ethical standards of these methods and approaches will be assessed as to whether or not they prove as ethically

After reading the article titled, “The Challenge of Policing in a Democratic Society: A Personal Journey Toward Understanding” by Officer Charles H. Ramsey, I was able to relate with his view points and argument. In this article Ramsey, who was a sergeant for the Chicago Police Department discussed the core of ethics. His main example was the Holocaust in Europe during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Ramsey stated police officers worked together with the Nazi soldiers during this time and in return were not protecting their citizens. Similarly, when the police made no intervention to the killings and hangings of blacks in the south of the United States during the Civil War era.

“Somebody didn’t sleep through ethics training” (Ayer and Fuqua, 2001). This statement made by an officer in the movie Training Day, best exemplifies a major theme of the movie. Training Day should be shown to rookie officers as an example of how a police subculture can allow officers to abuse power. The movie is an over exaggeration, but provides depth and detail into certain situations officers may find themselves in. This paper will look at the specific concepts of a police subculture that officers may encounter.

Are police ever justified in committing illegal acts that violate others rights are they ever justified especially when there is no personal gain but for reasons that may seem to be about a higher purpose. This is the argument for noble cause corruption. This idea brings it to the end justifies the means thinking. If we start down this line where can it lead us? The idea that we can justify any action that would violate civil rights and other laws because we feel that our cause is noble and it is not being done for personal gain but the good of others can lead us into some dark places. The noble cause thinking is

My first interviewee officers jack Davidson, patrolman from Somers point police department. When interviewing Patrolman Davidson, I found the following to be his impressions of the police force in general. Officer Davidson spoke of why ethics and character are important in the field of law enforcement. His response was that ethics and character go hand in hand. In law enforcement it seems that there are so many reasons to do the right thing. The reasons began with public opinion and also should include their influence on the youth who will be growing up to be citizens of the city, state, or country. If a police officer does not behave with

Police officers are trained to read, write and analyze numbers. They are also trained how to handle firearms, identify non-lethal weapons, use defensive tactics effective, conduct search and seizure, driving techniques, investigate criminal acts and the laws of arrest, but how many police take a course on ethical conduct or learn the meaning of sworn oath? Some police officer feel ethics is not important and training is of low – priority. Law enforcement officers take oaths creates an ethical landmine. Officers have to weigh their personal values against colleague demands that may develop a hostile environment and cause ethical issues to flourish. When police officers demonstrate unethical practices, negative issues occur. Corruption scandals are painful reminders that officers need more

“Ethical issues regarding corruption and off-duty behavior have become an increasing challenge in criminal justice” (Writing, 1999-2013). Within the criminal justice system, ethics can be complicated by the moral implications of actions. Differences in cultures and different circumstances can affect the individual moral compass. However, all departments of criminal justice operate by a certain code of ethics and by certain standards. But those standards and ethics often become challenged due to issues relating to police brutality, off duty conduct and corruption that we hear about all of the time through the media.

5. Should ethics training be offered as an on-going process for law enforcement officers? * 5. “On-going ethics training is always a good idea. We train with our guns and cars every year. Couldn’t hurt to make ethics required every year too.” (Shonda Ellis Duncan, personal Interview 2011) 6. Do the interviewees feel that education and/or training in ethics would reduce incidents of police corruption? * 6. “Training may reduce corruption incidents. It’s a nice idea. A wise man once told me though that power corrupts. I believe this to be true. If you think of yourself as a superior to everyone else, there is no law, no training or in-service that can fix that kind of ugly. I don’t know if someone can be “trained” to be humble. Either you are or you ain’t. I think this is true for cops. You’re either a good one or we appreciate your interest in law enforcement. Of course a good cop has to maintain order. You must have respect to be successful. An officer’s presence alone demands it. One must remember the spirit and the letter of the law though and hold it dear as it is precious. “(Shonda Ellis Duncan, personal Interview 2011)

Law enforcement (police) subcultures have specific set of moral values and a certain mentality exhibited by those in law enforcement. It’s always the public against the police so they form an alliance for supportive reasons. However, people may believe police subculture is breaking down. Police subculture is breaking down because it is inconsistent with the formal morals and values related to the culture and that police are not the same as each other in their qualities and attributes. Examining ethics and its relation to the police subculture is important to help delineate not only the grey area of ethics but also the grey area within which the police operate (McCartney and Parent, 2015). For example, police officers are known to defend their own whether its something right or wrong. However, if another officer feels that the situation interferes with their morals, then it becomes inconsistent with the other officer’s

In this country we are seeing an increase in ethical violations in the field of law enforcement. I will go into detail about some of the main ethical issues we are seeing today and what can be done to prevent such acts from happening. When one officer is being unethical it has a huge effect on how the public views law enforcement as a whole. Many officers go undetected for a long time before getting caught, but an officer committing ethical violations will have their day it’s just a matter of time. In order to improve this growing problem we must first understand why there is such a problem in the field of law enforcement.

Police subculture undermines ethics and has a constant influence on officers’ decision-making process, which ultimately leads to misconduct. Police, like most professions, have a secretive yet unique type subculture because the lifestyles of its members are significantly different. Law enforcement officers tend to befriend other officers or people with similar roles within the criminal justice system. Many times, friendships extend to firefighters and other civil service personnel to include military members.