Examples Of Police Misconduct

Correcting police misconduct and police officers using professional discretion and crossing ethical boundaries is a colossal challenge that every police department in America has at one time taken on. In order to correct the problem police departments should maintain a written policy regarding the guidelines pertaining to the use of officer discretion and the result of incorrectly using their discretion. Also, training in police ethics and past examples of officer misconduct must be incorporated from the first day at the academy, in addition to annual ethics training. This will lay the foundation for a police department’s success. Reward an officer’s ethical behavior. Rewarding ethical behavior and disciplining officers for unethical

Their actions can be deceiving. They manipulate people and situations, they coerce citizens, and are dishonest. They are encouraged and rewarded for their practices. Police officers often lie to suspects about witnesses and evidence. They are deceitful when attempting to learn about criminal activity. Most of these actions are sanctioned, legal, and expected. Although, police officers are allowed to be dishonest in certain circumstances, they are also required to be trustworthy, honest, and maintain the highest level of integrity. To perform their job effectively, police officers lie. They use deception, manipulation, and coercion to obtain information. Police officers often tell those suspected of committing crimes that they have physical evidence implicating the suspect when there is no such evidence. They tell suspects that they have witnesses who have identified or implicated the suspect, knowing full well the witness does not exist. Officers will tell suspects that a polygraph has shown that the suspect was lying when the officer knows that the polygraph did not indicate deception, or was inconclusive. Police officers will conceal their identity, and even deny that they are police officers while attempting to obtain evidence. Some of these practices are justifiable, others may create ethical concerns and some are beyond the law or ethical policing. Police officers abuse their power when they engage in