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Importance of ethics for law enforcement
Importance of ethics in policing
Importance of ethics for law enforcement
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Abstract This paper explains why training in the field of ethical behavior is extremely important for law enforcement professionals. Law enforcement professionals are held to a higher standard than the normal citizen, people look to them when they need help. Unethical behavior by a law enforcement officer can be detrimental to the law enforcement profession as a whole. Cell phones in today’s society make it harder for law enforcement officers to do their jobs, they don’t know when they’re going to be recorded while handling a call or not, and when they’re recorded the video only shows the view point that the recorder wants the public to see. Therefore, training on ethics for law enforcement officers is imperative. Training will help give law …show more content…
Law enforcement agencies have ethics built in their core mission and policies for many reason. In order for an agency to be accredited by the Commission of Accreditation in Law Enforcement Associations (CALEA), agencies have to have training and policy that deals with ethics. Having officers and policies that deal with ethics creates a blanket over the organization when one of their officers make an unethical decision while on the job. It puts the legal liability of the officers’ actions back on the officer and not the law enforcement agency as a …show more content…
Most times the public only sees the end stage of the arrest and not what the arrestee has done to cause law enforcement officers to use force against them. When ethics comes into play if officers decided to throw in some extra strikes after the subject became compliant. Once the subject is taken into custody they have to be treated like any other complaint prisoner unless he continues to be uncooperative while in custody. If this doesn’t happen and they let the prisoner get under their skin, then they open themselves to the possibility of compromising their ethical and moral
In society we will always faces ethical and unethical choices. There are time when we cannot always chose the ethical approach. Other decisions primarily only affect us as individuals. However, when you are in the public eye such as police officer your decisions affect others. In this paper the discussion will be based on the Kansas City case study.
The job of a law enforcement officer sometimes can be tough. Officer are sometimes plagued with situation that test their ability to enforce the law and maintain order. Police officers today face a constant battle to maintain higher ethical standards. This mission becomes tougher each day when one considers the importance of fighting terrorism, drugs, human trafficking,
Officers are known as public servants, they are held at higher standards than everyday citizens. According to Wyatt-Nichol & Franks(2009) when officers behave unethically, it is a violation of public trust and damages the image of law enforcement everywhere (p. 40). Officer should receive in-death training of cases that make headlines within the newspapers or media. For example, the Freddie Gray or Eric Garner case could be used in scenarios with the steps taken to avoid any ethical dilemmas they could possibly run into. Updated training should be conducted every 6 months for ethics alone in addition to the yearly training that’s already in place. The civilian review board can recommend more training of officers that engage in unethical behavior or misconduct. Intense training, followed through with morals is important factors to avoiding the civilian review board and their process in reviewing investigations against officers. When all training officers receive has been overlooked and failed to comply. Police officers should be held accountable for their actions, through training officers learn to understand their position and need within the community. Although training is offered yearly and on an as need basics, officers are held to a high standard within their community. Some tend to lose sight of their mission of daily duties which are to maintain order and
In this essay, I will examine the ethical issues surrounding police corruption and discretion in the criminal justice system. I will also define legality and equity and how they relate to police corruption and discretion. Police corruption and discretion are ethical issues that have been negatively impacting the criminal justice system for years. Police corruption weakens the public 's confidence in law enforcement officers. It also hinders the effectiveness of law enforcement officers whose job is to serve and protect. I will also define police corruption and discretion and the reasons behind police misconduct.
Even though both police officers and attorneys are active in the Criminal Justice System on a daily basis, I deduce that police officers face more ethical issues. The complex duties that an officer has to undergo during his time on duty, may cause concerns on public satisfaction. Officers deal with everyday situations that require them to make split second decisions as society expects a ‘reaction’ from them. Compared to attorneys, officers are constantly in the public’s eye and unethical conduct is a character of
In order to address the ethical and misconduct issues criminal justice some administrative actions need to be made. One action is the enhancement of local and state policies regarding ethical behavior and unprofessional misconduct. Policies that are a standard or both state and local employees who work in the criminal justice system. Successful partnerships between state, local and federal government should be established to combat the most important issues that plagues the criminal justice system. These partnerships will bridge organizations and yield great results in reducing misconduct and improve ethical
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.
The fact that Law enforcement are now being trained in the area of ethics is something that is very essential to them as a whole. Law enforcement officers have endured a lot of ethical problems, which deal with them having to make choices under certain circumstances that may present themselves to them on a daily basics. Ethics are founded on the overall moral choices that deal with wrong or right things to do. When it comes to those individuals that deal with criminal justice, these professionals deal with those problems in ethics when they are dealing with those circumstances each and every day.
For instance, the individual who acted morally in the first place is now being harassed unmercifully by the others in the division (Pollock, 2017). Hence, if the administration asks about what you have observed and heard, you may become a target for similar actions (Francis, Armstrong, & Foxley, (2015). Correspondingly, it is likely that those officers engaged in the harassing behavior lose their livelihood, thereby harming their families. Also, it is possible that even if you act ethically and tell what you know, leave the department to circumvent the possibility of harassment, that other department may not hire you to do to telling on other law enforcement officers. Therefore, your career may suffer if you choose to proceed morally. Subsequently, these possibilities promote silence regarding the immoral officers’ actions from a self-interest
For years police corruption has been a major problem in American society but where is the line between moral and unethical police corruption, many modern movies address this vary issue. Some films portray how types of police corruption can have a positive influence on society, while others show the dark side of police corruption. Many law enforcement agents join the criminal justice with the basic idea of “justice for all,” however, most of them do not realize that the nice guy doesn’t always win. Even though there are vast amounts of movies which specifically address police corruption we will use three main movies for our argument today, mostly LA Confidential, however, also Training Day.
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 offence Harry would be charged with is William’s murder. The area of Law that this case is concerned with is criminal law (homicide). The two offences that constitute homicide are murder and manslaughter. The classic definition of murder was set by Sir Edward Coke (Institutes of the Laws of England, 1797). Murder is defined by the Law as causing the death of a human being within the Queen’s peace with the intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm. It comprises of 2 elements. These are the actus reus (guilty act) and the mens rea (intention).
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.
Criminal Justice professionals are in positions of power and exercise power and authority over others. Therefore, it is important for them to study ethics because they must be aware of the ethical standards needed in making critical decisions involving discretion, force, and due process. It is also a fact that criminal justice professionals who exercise power and authority over others can be tempted to abuse their powers.
Rich, Martin. “An Analytical Look into Police Ethics.” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Vol.80. Issue 5. May 2011. 11-17. EBSCOhost. Web. 12 Nov 2013