Ethical Violations in the Field of Law Enforcement

It is important that police officers be ethical especially while on the job. An officer’s

Today’s justice professionals are in the public eye more than ever. There are a multitude of devices out there that allow civilians to capture every move a street officer makes. It is more crucial now than ever that these officers arm themselves with the knowledge of ethics along with the items on their utility belt. The wrong choice in any decision a justice professional makes will have the public ready and willing to lash out. These difficult ethical decisions are all part of the job that they have taken. Taking the time to learn about what is right and wrong is essential to their positions in society.

My first interviewee officers jack Davidson, patrolman from Somers point police department. When interviewing Patrolman Davidson, I found the following to be his impressions of the police force in general. Officer Davidson spoke of why ethics and character are important in the field of law enforcement. His response was that ethics and character go hand in hand. In law enforcement it seems that there are so many reasons to do the right thing. The reasons began with public opinion and also should include their influence on the youth who will be growing up to be citizens of the city, state, or country. If a police officer does not behave with

“Ethical issues regarding corruption and off-duty behavior have become an increasing challenge in criminal justice” (Writing, 1999-2013). Within the criminal justice system, ethics can be complicated by the moral implications of actions. Differences in cultures and different circumstances can affect the individual moral compass. However, all departments of criminal justice operate by a certain code of ethics and by certain standards. But those standards and ethics often become challenged due to issues relating to police brutality, off duty conduct and corruption that we hear about all of the time through the media.

The Amendments found in the United States Constitution contain several provisions to protect citizens from various infringements from the government. These provisions have greatly influenced what law enforcement is today. Due to the power of a law enforcement official, the public expects officers to be held to a higher ethical standard. Part of that expectation entails that officers will follow in the law and lead by example. Unfortunately, no one is perfect and departments will always have those law enforcement officers who stray from what is right and act questionably on and off duty. To ensure that officers are being held accountable for their actions, departments will employ their own Internal Investigation division to help identify, discipline, and/or remove employees found guilty of misconduct. Therefore, it is important that administrators develop safeguards to ensure that internal investigations are conducted fairly and ethically, demonstrating the best interest of both the

To identify the current ethical climate of the Virginia Beach Police Department, all members, both sworn and non-sworn, were asked to complete an ethical climate survey earlier this year. The purpose of this task was to obtain data on the current ethical climate of the agency. This information would then provide a benchmark to better monitor their progress against their own results. Obtaining knowledge through the ethical climate survey was only the beginning. The results provided management with valuable information, both positive and negative, of the ethical climate within the agency. Once the results were calculated across several dimensions it was the responsibility of the

While working in law enforcement, whether it may be a police officer, a correctional prison guard, or a probation officer you always have to always act professionally at all times no matter who you are working with. If you do not show respect you will not get any respect. There are many people out there that want respect while they are in prison, but sometimes you have to earn it. Having ethical standards is a key importance too. When you are working especially in the prison you must obey the code of ethics because they do not want to hear about what is going on at your home. Keep calm in whatever situation you come across because you have no clue what type of situation you will come across. So having the best ethical and professional practice

Training of criminal justice professionals in the principles of ethics and putting these practices into work is a very challenging process. The challenge comes in where it appears too non-practical to be put into practice in the real world. However, the important point to begin in this training is to develop a program that shows the importance of ethics to an individual in an organization and in this case, the criminal justice profession. I feel that it is important for ethics training in this field because of variety of beneficial reasons (Prenzler, 2009). To begin with police officers, most agencies in law enforcement and correction centers spend huge amounts of money in funding officers in defensive tactics and use of force by using weapons for their survival in their line of duty.

Alexis met a male online a month ago, and had sex with him. Law Enforcement was not contacted at the time of intake. The father (Jason) just found out about the allegations, and took the child to the hospital to get checked for STD's. It was unknown at the time of intake how Jason found out about the information. It was also unknown where the allegations took place. Alexis is getting a psych eval, per the

The role of ethics is vital to an officer, who must react rapidly to criminal activity, make life and death choices and obtain legitimate evidence. For instance, without the legitimate and ethical administration of Miranda Rights, notifying an offender of his entitlement to an attorney and telling him that anything he says can be utilized against him; wouldn’t exist. ("Miranda Rights", 2016) Detective Watson has been employed with the New York Police Department for 10 years, he plans to apply for the FBI next year. Detective Watson believes that your ethics and character are an immediate reflection upon the way you apply or handle yourself in various circumstances; whether it’s a summons, arrest, or interaction with civilians. Addtitonally, he

Law enforcement officials are in a position of authority and power that allows them a great amount of discretion. With this power there is a need for the individual to uphold the high ethical standards and accountability to the local community that the individual has sworn to serve and protect. When an officer does not follow the ethical standards that are placed upon him or her, the reputation of the department and profession is placed in jeopardy. Having on officer to breach the ethical standards presented with the position can have a negative impact on the communities’ opinion of all officers. It is important that individuals in upper management consistently maintain an environment that consist of integrity and maintain the trust of the

In law enforcement they are required to deal with a variety of issues from race, gender difference and political views, etc. Within law enforcement these different issues have to be handled with respect and discretion, the officer has to be able to separate their personal beliefs and do their job. The job of law enforcement is to enforce law as it is written, it does not matter their personal feeling toward a certain topic. Separating or reassigning an officer to a different forum will just create a dilemma within the department, e.g., if an officer has a religious belief against homosexuals they are required to protect them under the law no matter their sexual preference. Allowing officer to use religious belief as a term not to do their jobs

culture by instilling fear and causing more harm than the original threat (Kane, 2014). Another ethical challenge was to find sources that applied my position without sacrificing the truth by being too forceful or one-sided. To overcome these, I made sure my sources were scholarly and that they did not have a self-serving motive, such as creating fear or to create a profit.

The world as we know it is becoming smaller and smaller as societies are becoming more and more integrated with technology and that the internet, allowing people to connect with one and another instantly and over great distances. Law enforcement is forced to adapt to the changing environment, thus pushing for more resources and access to surveillance systems to better protect society. The major concerns in regards to this is that many people are worried their freedoms are being encroached upon as in order for law enforcement to provide better security it comes at the risk of sacrificing freedom of speech and privacy. In America, this country holds the first amendment and the fourth amendment in high regard as it insures the people’s well-being

First I would like to say to you job well done on your discussion question this week, and your evaluation of ethical concerns in today’s law enforcement world. From the start of my education in the field of criminal justice, I have been a huge fan of community policing programs. We see that during the Clinton Presidency the practice of community policing started to take shape across the country producing positive effects reducing the crime rate by more than 30 percent during this time frame (Gayabeen & Phillips, 2014). We see that in the early 2000’s that there was a shift in this practice in areas such as New York where they placed high amounts off officers in high crime areas. The New York City Government allowed these officers to perform