In any given setting, police officers are responsible for maintaining order within a, sometimes overly chaotic, society. They are given the responsibility of acting as protectors of the defenseless and upholding justice, at the risk of injury to themselves or even the loss of their own life. In addition, it is inevitable that an officer will eventually come into physical contact with an individual, who may be volatile or avoiding arrest, which nonetheless increases the odds of a physical confrontation. The distressing truth is that, although being assaulted is not a requirement of their profession, it is essentially unavoidable. With that said, police officers realize this fact and readily accept the reality that at any given moment, be
It is important in regards to employment as well as for public perception. As the public and communities observe ethical behavior in off duty officers, they are assured that officers are not above the law. When unethical behavior occurs public perception changes. Social media and media have recently brought unreasonable force issues to the public, which has had a domino type affect which has escalated from communicating about unethical behavior and reexamining standards, to individuals rioting and protesting against law enforcement and police officers in general. Not all officers are unethical, most are ethical; one officers’ actions are being alleged by society that all law enforcement officers are unethical. This is a generalized supposition, conveyed by one person’s actions: it is erroneous. Law enforcement agencies must adhere to the high ethical standards that is essential to officers; they are responsible for ensuring ethical behavior standards are developed and used within its own
When political anarchy, social injustices, and crime end up leading to civil depravities that go against the foundation of democracy, society depends on the police to come in and keep the peace, while attempting to restore the order. These officers are asked to pursue criminals in vehicles, and on foot, repeatedly expose themselves to the dangers of the crimes, and remain calm while being under pressure at all moments on the job, and even off duty. Being an officer of the law takes a special person
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.
Everyday law enforcement personal have the possibility to face dangerous events in their daily duties. In performing such duties a police officer could come by a seemingly ordinary task, and in a blink of an eye the event can turn threatening and possible deadly. When or if this happens to an officer they won’t have
“Discretion is the availability of a choice of options or actions one can take in a situation” (Dempsey 143). Discretion is a huge part of being a police officer because you come across problems that give you many options to choose from and as an officer you must be ready to make a quick choice. Police officer must face tough choices that involve a small amount of thinking and can put their lives at risk. Discretion is not only used by officers but by every living person that has to make everyday choices, such as waking up for school or not waking up. Problems we see today concerning excessive force from police can be because of bad discretion and that can be because they’re afraid or just they just simply don’t care.
Society impacts ethical behavior of law enforcement by holding them to a higher standard of expectation. Police officers act as protectors and liaisons in highly stressful situations with the power to make decisions over society. Holding this position requires trust and the ability to lead by example. Police officers may have to be able to recognize the ethical dilemmas, decide the
The textbook defines police discretion as the use of individual judgement, instead of formal rules, in decision making (Bohm & Haley, 2012). The use of discretion is important because patrol officers cannot be expected to make an arrest for every violation of the law they encounter. For example misdemeanor violations are generally handled differently than felony violations. Minor traffic violations may be handled differently based on the demeanor of the suspect. Patrol officers generally have the latitude to use discretion in a given situation (Bohm & Haley, 2012).
Some of the world’s most-loved and well-known superheroes include Superman, Batman, and Spiderman. However great these superheroes may appear, their fictional stories also include stressors that they face everyday, such as the villains that they encounter and the pressure of being a hero and an everyday citizen. In this way, stress often negatively impacts the lives of the ones who watch over every neighborhood, every street, and every house. Such is the job of a police officer. Because stress has become an important topic in the community of law enforcement, things that are commonly discussed are the causes of stress, the effects of stress, and the handling of stress in the lives of police officers.
When a person becomes a peace officer - or any position that has inherent authority - ethical dilemmas will soon present themselves. If such an individual has divorced the concept of morals and ethics from practical daily-living then you can expect their decision-making to end where the consideration of others begins and therein lies the root of much of the world’s ills. The result of such actions harms not only the officer and the victim but reflects on the whole of the American criminal justice system. Because of their visibility the necessity for officers to not only to have a working knowledge of ethics but to practice the highest conceivable notion of it - including morality and impartiality.
The degree of force that officers use is heavily influenced by police discretion in real-world situations rather than espoused by a certain agenda. Discretion can be classified into four different categories where administrators, the community, and the individual police officer exercise differing degrees of influence in decision-making. What is needed to help officer discretion is a central ethos that will guide discretion when all other rules fail to help.
People often believe that there is no other profession that require high ethical standard than the Department of Law Enforcement. Every law enforcement officers in the United States of America should at least know that they live in a fishbowl because friends, neighbors, relatives, strangers are able to watch every move a police officer does regardless it is on duty and off duty. The community residents scrutinize law enforcement officers more than any other important occupations because law enforcement officers are an image of a strong leader and are a role model for children, however, others hope to catch them on their mistakes due to their perfect image. It is stated from the Federal Bureau of Investigations that a leader set the authority for their department and ethical performance (Fortenbery, 2015). In today’s society, the media are continuing to display police officers on their wrongdoing. In addition, police officers are required to serve and protect the community from harmful criminals, but they continue to use unjustified actions such as excessive use of force, abuse of authority, speeding, and misuse of public office.
Discretion is using an individual’s judgment, instead of a set of formal rules, to make decisions (Bohm, 2014.) Discretion for police officers is used because there are no list of policies and procedures that could cover every single situation that an officer could face on their everyday workday (Bohm, 2014.) The book made sure to even mention those police officers can face discretion from both a parking meter violation and the ignoring of violations of the law that they deem appropriate (Bohm, 2014.)
Officers are able to use discretion in many situations that their morals would guide them in. They have the right to pull a person over with probable cause or a violation and they can choose whether to give them a ticket, a warning, or nothing, depending on the situation.
Law enforcement is a profession; ethics and ethical conduct play an important role. The International Association of Chiefs of Police established a code of ethics to govern the conduct of its members. This code of ethics, originally written in 1957, was revised by the IACP in 1989. The code of ethics states that the officer 's fundamental duties are to serve the community, safeguard lives and property, protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence or disorder, and respect the constitutional rights of all. The code of ethics also states that officers must keep their private lives unsullied and recognize the badge as a symbol of public faith and trust. The police code of