Analysis of Supermarket Scenario - Case Study Example

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS 1. Introduction In the article “It’s not yours until you pay” published in the January 22, 2010 issues of Sydney Morning Herald, Charmian Lawson compiled a common scenario in the supermarket that could be viewed as larceny. These include a scenario where a mother feeds her kid with fruits from the display bin without paying them. An elderly woman pulled bananas from a bunch and eat them for free. Women reading magazines from the racks while waiting their turn in the checkout counter and another woman puts several handfuls of almonds into her plastic bag and walks away without paying them. This scenario demonstrates the strange behaviour of some supermarket customers that under the law is an offence and a police business. However, the police may not enforce the law and use discretion due to ethical reasons. Consequentialism is generally a morality that determines the rightness of an act in terms of its consequence (Morton 2004, p. 207). In contrast, nonconsequentialism demand that as rational and autonomous agent every citizen should be respected by the law (Duff 1991, p.141). A consequentialist therefore is a person who judged an act based on perceived outcome thus an act with destructive or harmful consequence is morally wrong. A nonconsequentialist on the other hand will generally require law enforcement to be lenient with the population. Consequentialism is opposite to deontological system as the latter is more interested on the nature of the act than its consequences. A person following a deontological ethical system with a good intent will pursue his objectives regardless of consequences. Consequentialism is more closely related to teleological system of ethics as they both support the concept that the end justifies the means (Pollock 2008, p.33). These frameworks are essential to this case study analysis as they can help illuminate different aspects of the case study by looking at two different ethical perspectives. 2. Case Study Analysis The act being committed by some customers of the supermarket in the case study seems acceptable to many since nobody was really concern about it. Apparently, it is not considered a theft or a violation of any law since even Lawson did not even bother to call security. The question however is how a police officer would actually react when such act is reported or personally witnessed by law enforcement authorities. As a police officer responding to the call of duty, the first reaction will be to enforce the law but it may be too harsh for women merely reading a magazine or a lady eating a handful of nuts. From the consequentialist view, the direct consequences of such acts are losing sales on crumpled magazines and missing nuts. Indirectly, repeated practice may result to bigger theft and greater loss for businesses. In either case, the acts resulted to bad consequences and therefore morally wrong and the rule of law should be applied. However, this does not necessarily mean they should be treated as hardened criminal but rather a citizen that should be respected by the law. Applying the non-consequentialist ethical system in this case seems appropriate because the rule of law can be applied while providing proper courtesy to the offender. Knowledge of ethical systems in policing situation is helpful as police officers are called upon to act justly in all their work such as when exercising discretion to arrest or not, intervene or not to intervene in personal or family disputes, or working to pacify and conciliate hostile neighbours (Villiers & Adlam, 2004, p.75). However, as a person and a police officer at work, there are factors that can affect my personal ethical system. According to Edwards (2005), the professional code of ethics applied to a police officer, the discipline code within my terms of employment, and my personal code that is founded on individual’s beliefs and values which is very important. The choice of appropriate ethical system therefore mostly depends on the strength of individual beliefs and values and in my case this ethical system is a balance between applying the rule of law and respect for others. There seems some correlation between consequentialism and the rule of law as the former judge by the consequences of the act while the latter is being applied whenever the consequence of an act is bad. However, the legitimacy of a police officer selectively enforcing the law is another issue since it may be contradictory to the liberal or democratic presumption that we are governed by law. For instance, choosing to detain or arrest a person simply because a police officer thinks that it’s the right thing do may not be appropriate because this discretion is being exercised against a background of duly legislated laws which we must follow (Kleinig 2008, p.83). Again, a non-consequentialist may be appropriate since an action is right when it’s performed with accepted moral laws regardless of consequences and therefore in accordance with the rule of law (Stevenson 2007, p.338). There seems no better policing than to balance ethics and the rule of law and there is no ethical system that can provide such harmony than one who judge the act rather than selectively weighing the consequences. According to Cranshaw (2009), the professional ethics of policing emphasises the absolute requirements for police officers to respect the rule of law, human dignity, and human rights. Similarly, respecting the rule of laws means obeying the law while considering the notion of ethical policing and more importantly, the rule of law prevails since no person or police officer is above it (p.19). The right policing approach to the supermarket larceny is therefore applying the rule of law since an officer must first obey the law while performing his duty. If one officer feels that arresting or detaining a magazine reader is unethical in terms of consequence then he must realize that there is another affected party at the other end – the owner of the magazine stand. He may in turn consider the consequence of business loses to the family of this party and weight against the ethical implications of detaining a cunning magazine reader who sees her act as a privilege for waiting in line. As good and moral people, police officers like me believe in the goodness of maintaining order, the nobility of my occupation, and the fairness of the law. For this reason, acts leading to disorders, law breaking, and lack of respect for others are considered enemies of civilized society that deserved punishments specified by the law. Similarly, fostering inequity and injustice will damaged the goodness of the profession that will be later scrutinized by the public. Arresting or detaining an offender is therefore enhancing the rule of law as mechanism of change rather than exploitation, discrimination, or unethical practice (Braswell et al., 2011, p.115). This also means that militaristic attitudes are not conducive since the most important thing is to understand the law and its dynamics, have a good relationship with the public, patience, and exercise sound judgement in situations the requires police discretion. Aside from a having an acceptable code of ethics, effective police officers should be knowledgeable and committed to the service. In theory, regardless of code of ethics every police officers should operate under the rule of law thus no police officer should follow any command the would violate the law (Merenin & Das 2005, p.25). The case study should be not be looked at as some public relation dilemma since there are more than reading free magazine, eating almonds, pulling bananas, and giving a child a free meal. In my view as a police officer, these supermarket customers are more than just regular shoppers but people taking advantage of the supermarket setting to save a few dollars. They are some sort of unconscious thieves habitually taking stuff belonging to others which under the law is punishable. Applying consequentialist ethical system in this situation is possible but discretion may neglect the consequence of such act to the other party. The police officer may not see the difference between an incidental occurrence and habitual practices. Moreover, such acts constitute to losses and the police officer may think that most ethical thing do is for the offender to pay for it which is more unethical in public eye. For instance, what is the difference between a professional thieve taking a handful of nuts and a regular supermarket customer habitually taking them every time she shopped? None. This is because under the law, they are both thieves and in the public eye detaining one while letting the other go is unfair and inequitable. Ethical practices particularly in this case study has several implications and as mentioned above, hesitation on the part of the police officer will only create further problems and inequity. For instance, say that police discretion will always take precedence in cases like this then there will more free nut eating shoppers that will come to the supermarket since public perception of such act is tolerable. Police involvement reinforces the notion that minor shop lifting particularly edible goods are permissible and being tolerated by law enforcement officers. Another is the fact that real thieves will be encouraged to do such acts as an innocent shopper to avoid criminal prosecution. The police officer responding to this type of scenario should open his mind to the reality that under the rule of law and in the spirit of equality such acts deliberate or not constitute to greater social problems which the law wants to prevent. Applying the rule of law first does not necessarily mean ethical dilemma since as mentioned earlier, the rule of law is fair and have moral values to protect the public. So why hesitate? In summary, if I am the police officer responding to the supermarket scenario then I would at first inquire about the nature of the problem, read their rights and detain the offenders. There is no reason for me to use discretion at this point since there is another party affected by the act otherwise I will be inequitable to the shop owners and to the greater public as well. The use of discretion as discussed earlier may be effective in some situations such as conciliating families and friends, friends fighting over a girl, a drunk sleeping on a sidewalk, a noisy neighbour, and so on but it will never be effective in cases where somebody took another person’s possession. The supermarket scenario is clearly a case of taking somebody else’s property, a source of living for the family, and a violation of the law. Given that this is an accepted practice for many, it does not necessarily mean that it’s legal and not damaging to others. The point is that policing should not be confused by ethical practices as some of them may be contradictory to what they are supposed to do to protect the interest of the greater public. As the police officer in this case study, the position I presented here is effective policing by striking the balance between ethical policing practices and the rule of law. The rule of law should come first and if the police officer decides to use his discretion he should have a sound knowledge of the circumstances and the implications of his decision. 3. Conclusion A consenquentialist approach to policing is only useful in case to case basis since there are indeed some implications of such ethical practices to the people involved and the wider community. Deciding the rightness of an act based on the consequences may not result to equality since such act are acceptable to many and the police officer may be confused by the fact that magazines were returned and therefore no bad consequence. Similarly, the amount of nuts taken was just a handful and therefore negligible. Prioritizing the rule of law in this case study and applying a non-consequentialist approach where the act is readily judged regardless of consequences may be appropriate since implications are more positive for the individual involved and the wider community who will no longer attempt larceny. 4. References Braswell M., McCarthy B., & McCarthy B., 2011, Justice, Crime, and Ethics, Elsevier, United Kingdom Cranshaw R., 2009. Police and human rights: a manual for teachers and resource persons and for participants in human rights programmes, BRILL, United States Duff R., 1991, Trials and Punishments, CUP Archive, United States Edwards C., 2005, Changing Policing Theories for the 21st Century Societies, Federation Press, Australia Kleinig J., 2008, Ethics and Criminal Justice: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom Marenin O. & Das D., 2000, Challenges of policing democracies: a world of perspective, Routledge, United Kingdom Morton A., 2004, Philosophy in Practice: An Introduction to the main questions, Wiley-Blackwell, United States Pollock J., 2008, Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice, Cengage Learning, United States Stevenson D., 2007, Psychology & Christianity Integration: Seminal Works that Shaped the Movement, Psychology and Christianity Press, United States Villiers P. & Adlam R., 2004, Policing a safe, just and tolerant society: an international model, Waterside Press, United Kingdom Read More

2. Case Study Analysis The act being committed by some customers of the supermarket in the case study seems acceptable to many since nobody was really concern about it. Apparently, it is not considered a theft or a violation of any law since even Lawson did not even bother to call security. The question however is how a police officer would actually react when such act is reported or personally witnessed by law enforcement authorities. As a police officer responding to the call of duty, the first reaction will be to enforce the law but it may be too harsh for women merely reading a magazine or a lady eating a handful of nuts.

From the consequentialist view, the direct consequences of such acts are losing sales on crumpled magazines and missing nuts. Indirectly, repeated practice may result to bigger theft and greater loss for businesses. In either case, the acts resulted to bad consequences and therefore morally wrong and the rule of law should be applied. However, this does not necessarily mean they should be treated as hardened criminal but rather a citizen that should be respected by the law. Applying the non-consequentialist ethical system in this case seems appropriate because the rule of law can be applied while providing proper courtesy to the offender.

Knowledge of ethical systems in policing situation is helpful as police officers are called upon to act justly in all their work such as when exercising discretion to arrest or not, intervene or not to intervene in personal or family disputes, or working to pacify and conciliate hostile neighbours (Villiers & Adlam, 2004, p.75). However, as a person and a police officer at work, there are factors that can affect my personal ethical system. According to Edwards (2005), the professional code of ethics applied to a police officer, the discipline code within my terms of employment, and my personal code that is founded on individual’s beliefs and values which is very important.

The choice of appropriate ethical system therefore mostly depends on the strength of individual beliefs and values and in my case this ethical system is a balance between applying the rule of law and respect for others. There seems some correlation between consequentialism and the rule of law as the former judge by the consequences of the act while the latter is being applied whenever the consequence of an act is bad. However, the legitimacy of a police officer selectively enforcing the law is another issue since it may be contradictory to the liberal or democratic presumption that we are governed by law.

For instance, choosing to detain or arrest a person simply because a police officer thinks that it’s the right thing do may not be appropriate because this discretion is being exercised against a background of duly legislated laws which we must follow (Kleinig 2008, p.83). Again, a non-consequentialist may be appropriate since an action is right when it’s performed with accepted moral laws regardless of consequences and therefore in accordance with the rule of law (Stevenson 2007, p.338).

There seems no better policing than to balance ethics and the rule of law and there is no ethical system that can provide such harmony than one who judge the act rather than selectively weighing the consequences. According to Cranshaw (2009), the professional ethics of policing emphasises the absolute requirements for police officers to respect the rule of law, human dignity, and human rights. Similarly, respecting the rule of laws means obeying the law while considering the notion of ethical policing and more importantly, the rule of law prevails since no person or police officer is above it (p.19). The right policing approach to the supermarket larceny is therefore applying the rule of law since an officer must first obey the law while performing his duty.

If one officer feels that arresting or detaining a magazine reader is unethical in terms of consequence then he must realize that there is another affected party at the other end – the owner of the magazine stand.

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