South Carolina Officer Ben Fields Ethical Dilemmas

756 Words2 Pages

Ethical leadership requires an ethical leader and a coherent ethical framework to guide decisions and actions. Ethics are based on a set of social norms while morality is based on a set of beliefs. In the case of officer Ben Fields, situational ethics are questioned value, as well as, based ethics, professional ethics, and rule based ethics. Ethical behavior reflects a value system that matures from a coherent view of the world based on equity, justice, the need and right for others, and a sense of obligation to others needs and standards to society.
A case in South Carolina questions ethics (Adcox, 2015). South Carolina officer Ben Fields worked as a resource officer at Spring Valley High School in 2015 when a female student was being disruptive …show more content…

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott stated that Fields did not use proper procedure but police officers are human and make mistakes; however, Fields should be held responsible for his actions. The teacher and principal who witnessed the incident support Fields actions.
Someone claimed that Fields targets black students and accuse them of being gang related. The internet was outraged with a video of a white officer assaulting a black female teenager. There is also a debate if Fields should have been in the classroom in the first place. This is where ethics becomes a question.
Did Fields hold bias feelings towards students from African American culture? Did Fields have proper authority to even enter the classroom? When I further researched the topic of Ben Fields, I remembered an anonymous quote that was introduced to me a few years ago while studying religious studies, something like one man’s terrorist is another man’s hero. Field had just as much support as he had controversy. A Spring Valley High School student, Reginald Seabrook stated Fields did no wrong (Yan, Conlon, & Newsome, 2015). In fact, Fields won an award while working at an elementary school. There were previous lawsuits against Fields that were dismisses. Could a repeated pattern not be recognized by the courts or could Fields really be a good …show more content…

I would have felt responsible for his behavior because proper training was not incorporated. I would have enlisted all of my officers in training to handle situational stressors. In my opinion, the female student caused a situational stressor by having used her cell phone in class and then refusing to leave class. Her actions, in my opinion, could have caused stress on not only the faculty involved, but also the students who was there to learn. When thinking about social responsibility, two wrongs do not make a right. Most people in Fields position would rather lead by example. In this case, Fields example was just as wrong as the student’s actions. I cannot justify overly aggressive behavior from a man against a female juvenile; however, I would have to refer to the guideline and protocol to follow the chain of

Open Document