As stated in the textbook, police often have to make decisions on their own, with only their moral compass to guide them. Most ethical dilemmas that police officers face derive from their powers of discretion. Moral dilemmas that police officers face are often frequent and unavoidable. They are often unpopular with many people, resolved quickly, and are often dealt with alone. Individual prejudices and perceptions of groups such as minorities and homosexuals can influence their decision making. If these prejudicial attitudes toward groups affect decisions made by officers those groups may not receive the same protections as other citizens. This is discrimination, which can take the form of either enforcing the law differently or with holding protections from particular individuals. Additionally, racial profiling occurs when a police officer make a stop based on race or ethnicity. Pretext stop refers to the practice of police officers to use minor traffic violations to stop an individual and looks for other evidence of wrongdoing, often by a search. They could be viewed as discrimination based on their context. Police often use deception as a form of discretion in law enforcement. Drug smuggling, pornography rings, and fences of stolen merchandise are investigated using undercover work or informants. Blue lies are used to control a …show more content…
Connor, the Supreme Court held that the test used for whether force was excessive should be “objective reasonableness” and not based on how much pain an officer inflicted upon a suspect. They remanded the case to a lower court based on their described standard. Under this standard (or test), officers have the right to used “reasonable” force in any interaction with the public. They are not obligated to use the least possible force as long as the force is objectively reasonable. The test indicates that the use of force should be from the perspective of the officer on the scene at the time and not in
In law enforcement, every officer is responsible for their actions and whether or not to make an arrest when detaining an individual committing an offense. Whenever an officer stops someone they always run the risk of it turning into a dangerous situation. Sometimes when a situation is heated and in the moment, they have to make an immediate decision. Police officers have a responsibility to preserve the peace and make sure everyone comes out of the situation in the best way possible. The use of discretion involves using judgement, which officers are expected to have. Police officers are expected to enforce the law, but if they went after everyone that broke the law they would end up being overwhelmed and exhausted. Discretion is beneficial to officers when they
In the case, U.S. Supreme Court Graham v. Connor, the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution was applied. It seems that before, the standard for judging unreasonable force, or actionable force, was just whether the officer used that force out of deliberate cruelty, or whether he really meant to protect public safety. The conclusion of the Supreme Court was that this is not a good enough measure. Just because he had good intentions does not mean that the force, search, and seizure were not reasonable and that the person's rights were not violated.
Imagine driving home, on a pleasant evening, after a tedious day at work. Just as you are about to arrive to your neighborhood, you notice blue and red flashing lights and pull over. It seems the police officer has no reason for stopping you, except to search your vehicle because of your suspiciously perceived skin tone. This unnecessary traffic stop, designed for people of colored skin, happens on numerous occasions and has been termed Driving While Black or Brown. Racial profiling is the act of using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed a crime.
Police corruption is a difficult issue cities have to deal with and one of the oldest problems in the police force. Corruption can be defined as the mistreatment of public power for personal benefit or private and the use of excessive force either emotional or physical. In this essay I will explain in detail federal indictments of Los Angeles Country Sheriff officers use of mistreatment of jail inmates and visitors. Another topic I will explain is the transfer of Los Angeles Country Sheriff hired officers with questionable background. Finally I will end by analyzing the hiring of new Sheriff deputies under the “Friends of the Sheriff” program. There are several ways police departments could take to reduce police corruption. The three areas I think should change are the training officers further in how to diminish abuse, improving personal character of officers, and incentives program.
This research proposal seeks to establish the level of police discretion used on duty. It aims to understand when it is appropriate for police to use discretion as well as given reasons for abusing their decisions. It focuses on issues with police discretion maintaining the responsibility to be ethical such as racial profiling, socioeconomic status and excessive force. Although police discretion can have positive factors, it also difficult to determine whether it is fair for police to make a decision during situations.
Police ethics are extremely important because ethics are the typical of “fair and honest conduct” (pg 460). People may have a different definition of what is fair and what is honest, and there are different circumstances where officers may not be able to be honest; such as covert investigations. Society in general determines what our ethical standards and moral principles are. Individual morals vary among all of us as they are what we as an individual consider to be right or wrong. We also have morals that are set by society. These are what we as a society consider to be right or wrong and may go hand in hand with individual morals. Morals change as society and people change, therefore we as a country have to adapt to what the changing morals are.
Racial profiling occurs when a police officer uses a “profile” as reasonable suspicion to stop a person with the intent to obtain consent to search their belongings (Pollock, 2010). These stops are usually traffic stops and the officer is looking to obtain consent to search the individual’s automobile. The “profile” used is based on race. In these cases, an officer is using their discretion to target minority groups because they believe they are involved in criminal activities...
A Critical Assessment In defining police ethics, ethical policing and police ethics are not synonymous or interchangeable connotations to or for one another. Aside from establishing a police role independently from establishing any definition of ethics or police ethics, the semantics tend to complicate the defining process. Some of these complications include, but are not limited to, sociological aspects, psychological conditions, or philosophical reasoning. Examples of sociological complications include historical, political, cultural, or economic aspects. Some psychological examples include one’s ability to discern sociological implications from other implications; namely, the condition of post-traumatic stress disorder, hydrophobia, or even weary dreams. Lastly,
The use of force has been around since policing began, although the rules for its use have changed overtime. In a 1964 survey, the majority of police reported they were to use “good judgement” when deciding whether or not to shoot (Walker 1993, 26). Back then, police also used force for any fleeing felon, which basically meant whenever. Now that rules have changed, the American Law Institute’s Model Penal Code, established in 1962, states that police are to only use force when they feel their life or someone else’s life is in danger (Walker 1993, 27). Later on, the Omaha Police Department policy added to the American Law Institute’s Model Penal Code, by saying police cannot
Ethical behavior in law enforcement officers is continuously under scrutiny by the media, public and other law enforcement personnel. There are effective implements in place to balance the applications and efficiency of Ethics in law enforcement; to make just and lawful decisions to benefit of communities.
For many years the public has had their own views and beliefs about the concept of the use of force when used in certain situations by law enforcement officers. The Association of Chiefs of Police describes the use of force as “ The amount of effort required by police to compel compliance by a unwilling subject”. According, to the National Institute of Justice the use of force should only be used in certain necessary situations. Such as, self defense and/or in defense of another person or a group. In the case Tennessee v. Garner the U.S. supreme court ruled that a “police officer who has a probable cause to believe that a suspect poses a threat of serious harm to the officer or others may use deadly force to prevent escape”. There are many
As a result of the recent rise of the use of excessive force cases against police and law enforcement, I have chosen to research the definition of that excessive force. When is it considered justifiable? What training do officers receive? What liability issues are there? In an ABC news article, Sascha Segan states there is no specific definition of excessive force. A part of everyday police work is to subdue criminal and suspects. Another everyday task of police officers is personal discretion - making the right decision based on the specific situation. It has been documented in multiple viral videos that law enforcement officer’s discretion is not always favorable in the public eye and is quick to be judged. Yet shouldn’t we be asking if the officer’s actions were justifiable within the court system and if
Police officers are given a significant amount of discretion simply due to the nature of the job. Officers are faced with many threatening situations forcing them to react quickly yet appropriately. They have the power to infringe upon any citizen's rights to freedom and therefore they must use this power effectively. One major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is their power to decide when to use force or when to use lethal force. Manning (1997:295) argues that it is generally accepted that police should be allowed to use force. He also explains that there is an uncertainty among people as to what constitutes excessive force. The line between what is necessary and what is extreme is very thin. Use of force is no doubt one important aspect in policing; however, force should also be used with great discretion. If officers do not use force on every suspect they encounter they may be creating a negative environment for the community.
Values are a set of priorities that an organization is built on. Any organization without values is an organization that will loose the trust of the community. Having an organization that establishes values allows a positive connection to form. Implementing values into the police system is not only important, but crucial to the developmental aspects of policing. The article Values in Policing by Mark H. Moore and Robert Wasserman, is written to give an insight to the importance that values portray in the police system, while stating the differences between the values of crime fighting policing and the values of community policing. This article review will summarize the importance of values in the system and in the field.
Even though most of the decision-making authority is reserved by the police, a long-term relationship between the police and local residents can be created if police departments are responsive to community needs and accountable to the community for any actions they take (Gold-stein, 1987).