Ethics and Professional Practice - Case Study Example

Case Study -Ethics and Professional Practice Ethics is about acceptable modes of behaviour that are considered morally upright and should be practiced by any professional. It is a discipline that brings about observance of basic values capable of facilitating the consciousness process of people. The values are normally valid for all people and do contribute immensely to the general well-being of a person and the community he or she serves and it is from these values that ethical principles are got from and set the attitudes that are meant to be assumed in order to transform these acquired values into the person’s professional practice. The basic ethical principles are respect, empowerment, protection, responsibility and commitment. Every professional practice is shaped by its own ethics and codes of conduct that are expected of those who practice it. The police have a duty to protect themselves and other people considered vulnerable in society such as children and have the responsibility to carry the burden brought about by their conduct (Kleinig, 1997). In the case of Kelly Woods, there are various ethical issues that do arise, which challenge the practice of the policeman. Physical assault is ethically wrong of a father does that to intentionally inflict pain to a child. However, the problem comes when parenting roles conflict with family wrangles. The suspension of the young boy from school following his possession of porn and a pocket knife is an ethically right practice that is in line with rules and regulation of schooling. The child was to be punished but not assaulted. Ethics for parenting were thus broken by the father. The filing for a case five years after the assault case is questionable given that it is done with the assistance of the mother yet the two are separated. There could be possibilities of the young person evading future punishment due to his juvenile deliquesce and on the other hand, the mother might be silently pushing for child custody without putting her intentions clear. In the above case, there are possibilities that the police, in their faithful duty to serve the public, are being used unethically to settling personal scores. This is a case that calls for further investigation and avoid looking at things from one point of view. Cases such as these are normally complicated because the parents normally go to extreme options when seeking to take custody of kids. One ethical issue that normally stands out in such circumstances as has been seen in this case of Kelly Woods is the fact that children normally take advantage of family problems between parents to propagate their short term interests. As can be eluded from the case of the young boy, he concurs with the mother to go and file a case at police station five years later because of the punishment he has got from the father who bans and limits him to certain things and denies him luxuries as a form of punishment. The only way the kid sees he could enjoy such luxuries and has the freedom he needs is by staying with the mother who desperately needs to take custody of the young person (Corbo & McMahon, 2006). Information about the police cases like the one being addressed above can be accessed through the database at http://www.pic.nsw.gov.au/Reports_List.asp?type=Special where one can do special search (Police Integrity Commission, 2000). The ethical issues are further informed by the ethical demands of the police force such as the duty of care. This has been quite a debatable issue and in most cases, police officers normally find themselves in a dilemma when applying it. One outstanding aspect is the fact that police professionalism demands that the police owes this duty of care to everyone he or she comes across. This has actually been linked to the relationship that needs to exist in form of the proximity or neighbourhood of the police and the person whom the police owe the duty of care. The standard of care in practicing the duty of care requires that the community expectations be put into consideration. Police officers are normally faced with ethical dilemmas especially in cases where no one seems to take responsibility for an offense being committed because of the lose structures existing at the scene. As is in the case of Dracopopoulos, the police have a problem separating the children from their home, even though the circumstances at home force them to do so because of the requirements of DOCS. The incapacity of the grandmother to take care of the kids because of her condition is established. However, the love that this grandmother has for her grandchildren is displayed from the reaction she exhibits when the idea of separating her from them comes into play. The mother seems less concerned. The problem is whether to let emotional connections of the grandmother to the children take precedence over their health and welfare or assume the love shown and take away the kids. Ethical dilemmas are normal issues in everyday life. The guiding principle in coming out of such a compromising situation is sticking to the provisions of the law under which an offense is seen to have been committed. However, personal judgment is also very necessary as the police should realize they are dealing with people not machines. The only problem comes when an officer puts emotions ahead of the duty to perform as is expected (Miller, et al., 1997). It is common to say that the police have a duty to act within the law and the law does not recognize the emotional attachment that the grandmother has with the kids she cannot look after. If the police officers leave the kids in such a condition, it means that they are taking care of the grandmother’s feelings, at the expense of the wellbeing of the kids. The only problem here is the fact that policemen are also human beings and emotional weaknesses do exist in such circumstances. The police officer in this case of children separation from their home acted in order because of the repercussions that could happen if the kids are left in such conditions. Different professions have different skills that are demanded from them in their effective practice. A moral duty is placed upon the police to foresee risks before they do happen so that a proactive approach to problems is achieved. This has more to do with duty of care ethic where professionals are expected to have foresight of events before they happen so as to be able to protect those they have a duty of care to them. If a police can reasonably foresee the fact that a certain criminal event will happen, then they have the moral duty of care to stop it. Reasonable foresight is subjective to the extent of the police person’s knowledge and expertise in the field because more knowledge about something means more potential to reasonably foresee. It comprises what they should be in a position to know as a contribution to what they already know. The ability to foresee means that someone senior on the rank of police needs to be in a better position to apply this ability to reasonably foresee since the more knowledge, expertise and experience one has in the profession, the highly it is possible that he will be in a position to effectively apply the technique. This application of the technique to his or her duty of care will impact the outcome of his or her professional practice. Failure to exercise duty of care and foresight in police practice would mean laxity at work and thus incompetence. These are some of the terms that police officers would do all they can to avoid having them on their tags! The rationale for ethical and professional practice is determined by the outcome of the process. Failing to exercise these moral obligations in police practice means that one has failed to perform the duties assigned. Ethical consideration should also be able to establish the intention behind certain acts committed by people. Generalization of people in terms of groups does jeopardize effective application of ethical demands of policing profession. An interesting moral obligation in the police force is the fact that police officers are expected to forward all the offenders to court. This brings about the argument that police have no discretion to make a decision on whether they should enforce the law or not. Other issues that affect the police have to do with what exactly is the amount of force needed to be used in an event so that they are not seen to be applying excessive use of force. Indeed, ethical and professional practices are broad and quite demanding in terms of consideration of whit is right or wrong. Success can however be achieved if the people concerned stop thinking like robots and act as human beings. It is necessary that all professionals observe professional conduct at all times. Further training in one’s field and continued experience could be a good recipe for ethical practices within a profession. It is important that a professional such as a police officer in this case, understands the codes of conduct expected of him and exercises due diligence while at work. Fostering ethical and professional practices at work could work in favour of one’s career. Measure should be taken by an individual to ensure that ethics and professional conduct are upheld at all times. In cases where one fails to do so, the likelihood of jeopardizing his or her work is highly possible (Delattre, 1996). Ethical conduct is a moral obligation for everyone in society and it is upon us to ensure that in everything we do, we act diligently, faithfully and in the best interest of the community as a whole. This is because in most cases, the individual demands do differ or conflict with those of the community we live in and the organizations serve. Even as students, observance of ethical standard required of us is very essential if any meaningful success is to be realized. List of References Corbo Crehan, A & McMahon, B (2006), Duty of care, Charles Sturt University, Goulburn. Delattre EJ (1996), Character and cops: ethics in policing, The AEI Press, Washington. Kleinig J (1997), The ethics of policing, Cambridge University Press, New York Miller, S, Blackler, J & Alexandra, A (1997), Police ethics, Allen and Unwin, Australia Police Integrity Commission (2000), Special Report to Parliament – Project Oracle, A Review of Assault Complaints Involving Officers of the New South Wales Police Service, Police Integrity Commission, Sydney NSW Read More