Ethical Violations In Law Enforcement Case Study

Most Extreme Ethical Violation Of the ten cases previously discussed, two stick out as being more extreme ethical violations compared with the others. The cases involving Sergeant O’Neill with the Snohomish County (WA) Sheriff’s Office and Officer Nicholas Pontore with the Watervaliet (NY) Police Department both involved providing information regarding ongoing investigations. Not only did this information help the criminals evade arrest, it created the potential for harm to law enforcement officers who were investigating those cases. Because of the information they received, the criminals were able to use it to their advantage. This could have resulted in an increased likelihood of violence against law enforcement, especially in the

In other words, the officer’s actions were a result of some want or desire that they wanted to fulfill. The officers’ selfish motivations resulted in ethical violation which ultimately resulted in criminal charges and dismissal as a law enforcement officer. I would speculate that each of the officers involved did not fully consider the potential consequences of their actions. If any of the officers did consider the potential consequences, they probably believed there was little chance they would get caught or they believed the benefit outweighed the

It is not only beneficial for the individual officer but the department as well. Ethics training should cover critical issues such as honesty in official reports, temptation to embellish courtroom testimony, proliferation of drugs with money available to corrupt the police, lowered standards, professionalism, respect, corruption, public trust, morals/personal values, abuse of force/abuse of authority and off-duty issues and behavior. It is important that this training is not limited to the training academy or the new officer. This type of training should be ongoing and it is especially important that specific groups within a department have access to training tailored to their specific needs. These specific groups include recruits, field training officers, in-service police officers, supervisory personnel, executive personnel, civilian personnel and specialized units. Training curriculum should include decision-making models, use of case studies, discussion of specific values, and an examination of ethical thinking outside of law enforcement. Training should use adult learning principles and be interactive and engaging rather than simply a lecture