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Police ethical dilemmas
Excessive force by police
Police ethical dilemmas
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Ethical police conduct. My idea of ethical police conduct or code of conduct if you will is as follows; do your utmost to obey the laws you are sworn to enforce. Do nothing that willingly damages the public trust, their confidence in your abilities and the abilities of the police department or harms the public in any illegal way. The ability of a police officer to violate this code of ethics is sadly very easy as most things that are considered ethical are in the eye of the beholder. To me unethical behavior would be the officers using their positions as peace officers to gain some form of drastic advantage they should not legally be able to have. Such as disappearing drug money would give the officer an unfair advantage in the financial
Dempsey, J. S., & Frost, L. S. (2012). Police Ethics and Police Deviance. An Introduction to Policing (6th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.
Martin, Rich. "Police Corruption: An Analytical Look into Police Ethics." The FBI Enforcement Bulletin May 2011: 11+. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Feb. 2015.
"Proper use of discretion is probably the most important measure of a police officer or department." -- Rich Kinsey (retired police detective)
Police discretion. Police discretion is defined as the decision-making power afforded to Police Officers that allows them to decide if they want to pursue police procedure or simply let someone off with a warning. Police discretion can be also defined as the individual’s ability to make a decision based on the principle of courses in the actions. Police officers are usually in the position of having to make decisions on how to handle a specific situation alone, or without immediate supervision. In other words, police discretion is the choice the officer has on how he or she enforces the law. Discretion in law enforcement includes whom to arrest, whom to investigate, whom to talk to, and whom to interview (Pollock, 2014). Use of discretion
"A policeman’s first obligation is to be responsible to the needs of the community he serves…The problem is that the atmosphere does not yet exist in which an honest police officer can act without fear of ridicule or reprisal from fellow officers. We create an atmosphere in which the honest officer fears the dishonest officer, and not the other way around.", -Frank Serpico.
Police corruption and misconduct come apparent in many different forms. A basic definition for police corruption is, when an officer gets involved in offenses where the officer uses his or her position, by act or omission, to obtain improper financial benefit. The main reason for such corruption is typically for personal gain, such as bribery. Police abuse of authority occurs in three different general areas such as physical abuse, psychological abuse, and legal abuse. Physical abuse is such abuse where one uses excessive force or physical harassment. The psychological abuse occurs through disrespect, harassment, ridicule, excessive stops, or intimidation. Finally, legal abuse is abuse that occurs during unlawful search and seizure or manufacturing evidence (Pollock, 2012). One source describes police corruption in eight different ways. They include: corruption of authority, kickbacks, opportunistic theft, shakedowns, protection of illegal acts, the fix, direct criminal acts, and internal payoffs (Roebuck & Barker, 1974).
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.
There are several ethical issues that surround police corruption and discretion. Police corruption is defined as police misconduct. This occurs when police officers break their social contract by abusing their authority for personal advantages, department advances, or both. According to social contract theory, police officers are obligated to follow the code of ethics and moral standards of the criminal justice system. Police discretion is defined as the power to make decisions as to whether or not to follow police procedure and protocol, or give someone a
Police corruption is an across the country issue that has been continuing for a long time. Not just corruption is an issue all in the U.S. soil, yet police practices of corruption go as far east as Europe and Asia. Officers get a great deal of examination over this issue, yet all things are considered. In the 1980's there was legitimate strain including police searches was a direct consequence of the war on medications crusade.
are to be treated with kindness, respect, politeness, and love that is a police officer 's duty.
Corruption is the illegal use of legitimate authority. Any behavior that abuses and therefore crosses the parameters of one’s power can be classified as corruption. Corruption applied to a police force entails the robbing of drug dealers, redirecting of contraband into the personal accounts of officers, perjuring oneself to protect a corrupt officer, falsifying police reports, planting drugs to frame citizens, and a host of other misconduct that violates the oath of protecting the people. Prohibition made police corruption that much easier. The outlawing of alcohol combined with the fact that the overwhelming majority of urban residents drank and wished to continue to drink not only created new opportunities for police corruption but greatly changed the focus of that corruption.
Police decisions can affect life, liberty, and property, and as guardians of the interests of the public, police must maintain high standards of integrity. Police discretion concerning how to act in a given situation can often lead to ethical misconduct (Banks 29).
Police corruption is a nationwide problem that has been going on for many years. Not only is corruption a problem on our own U.S. soil, but police practices of corruption go as far east as Europe and Asia. Many studies, polls and examinations were taken to find out how exactly what the general publics’ opinions of the police are. Officers receive a lot of scrutiny over this issue, but for good reason.
Being a police officer requires high level of ethics and standards. Corruption within an agency can affect a community, state, and even a nation. Corruption may seem inevitable but using proper screening, extensive and continuous training and holding officers responsible can deter officers from becoming corrupt.
In an ideal world, police officers and law enforcement agencies would not be plagued by corruption, and would be the pillars of ethical conduct to which all other citizens would aspire. However, in a world such as ours, police officers all too often display signs of corruption, violate the values they once held so high, and let their sense of morality fall silent. Not all police officers are corrupt, but those that are soil the image of law enforcement and serve to further alarm an already wary public. The Ideal of the Police Officer The ideal of the police officer is a powerful one.