Law Enforcement and Ethics

Ethics play a huge role in a police officers line of work. Since police are given such a high degree of trust and authority, it can unfortunately be very easy for an officer to fall into some unethical behavior. This can range from just minor acts that are frowned upon, to actual downright illegal activity. Even though there are a countless number of acts and behaviors that can be considered unethical, in the following paper I will focus primarily on those incidents involving police officers who steal for their own personal gain, and discuss my position on the issue.

An event that definitely can be seen as being unethical involves a twenty-three year old former Phoenix, Arizona Police Officer. While on-duty and in full uniform, Officer James Wren would make unreported traffic stops of suspected drug dealers and steal their drug money for personal use. These thefts occurred on at least two occasions dating back to 2008. However, during these traffic stops Officer Wren was not just looking to gain some petty cash. He would use an accomplice to set-up large deals, and then Wren would target these dealers to gain a substantial amount of money. Wren and his accomplice Avash Mardjaee would split the proceeds after each incident (3 Down). On the first deal, Wren earned himself $16,000 dollars, and on the second he made out with $20,000.

Officer Wren unfortunately made plans to be corrupt before ever joining the police force. He met Mardjaee through a mutual acquaintance while working at a Discount Tire on 32nd Street and Cactus Road in 2008. Once Wren became an officer, he and Mardjaee set up meetings with each other on two separate occasions. In the first meeting, Wren dressed in street clothes and met Mardjaee at a Home Depot in ord...

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...d procedures that help regulate an officer’s conduct. While these are a good base point for how an officer should act, a lot of times these regulations can be very detailed or too general. This is where ethical training comes in to

It is often said that power brings corruption, but in reality it is an individual’s lack of character, self-discipline, and integrity that leads to corruption. Law enforcement can bring many temptations on the job, and maintaining an up most level of personal integrity can often times be very difficult. The very nature of the job surrounds officers with all of the bad things that society, produces. There can be an endless amount of training and rules put into place to try and deter officers from committing unethical acts, but in the end it really just comes down to the specific individual and their willingness to do the right thing.