Criminal Justice and Policing - Essay Example

Scenario Drugs at a Friend’s House. This scenario does not present a moral problem because morality is concerned only with those areas of life that are open to our choice. Friendship is not a justifiable criterion for labeling an issue to be a moral problem. Snorting cocaine is illegal in the US therefore you are no longer open to choice. As an officer of the law there are ethical standards of conduct to be maintained whether on duty or off-duty (Florida Department of Law Enforcement, n.d.) which implies that your hands are tied with regards to this scenario.

Depending on whether you are within your jurisdiction or not (e.g. you are a police officer from another state) or the police department’s off-duty powers of arrest policy, you may be permitted by law to conduct an arrest or not. As an officer of the law you will be obligated to follow the due process of the law. However before you make the actions specified above, you will need to first talk to your friend, telling him your concern and finding out whether he was privy to the cocaine snorting by his other friends.

You should make it clear to him the consequences of cocaine possession and use with regards to the law. In reality, though, you will probably find cause to disassociate him from culpability. Scenario 2 - Accepting a GiftThe issue raised here is a moral problem because it involves a difference of belief. Coleman (2004) says that the issue of police accepting small gifts has long been a source of contention the fear being that it could influence an officer’s judgment while dispensing his/her duties.

The moral question here is whether gratuities affect an officer’s decision making or not. There is no policy or law that governs this issue and professional discretion has been used to determine which gifts an officer could accept and which ones he/she should not accept. It is this professional discretion that Kania (2004) refers to as a slippery slope. Kania (2004) further states that though the fruit basket for your family, Christmas card, and $30 gift certificate could be innocent with no expectations attached to them nevertheless they would increase bias to the officer.

The rationale behind my action here would be that any officer who receives a gift would be inclined to spend more time on the merchant’s premises thereby providing the merchant a few extra minutes of private security. This would cause an imbalance in provision of services to the community which does not appeal to the professionalism required from a police officer. Moreover, in a perfect world, which is what we are striving for, there would be no need for such transactions (Coleman, 2004). I would therefore politely decline the gift.

Scenario 3 - Homosexual PartnerThis scenario presents a moral problem with regards to the difference in belief over human sexuality. According to Alexandria.gov (2007) discrimination occurs when a person is treated differently because of their membership in a protected class. In our case we are witnessing a personality conflict between Officer Davis and Officer Jones which Alexandria.gov (2007) says does not sum up to discrimination. There is no need for policy or law to be applied in this instance because we have not been informed that it’s a ‘universal’ problem at the police department.

With the belief that this is a conflict between two officers, as the supervisor, I would therefore apply professional discretion to evaluate the merits and demerits of the case before me. Officer Davis’s ‘fear’ of homosexuals does not diminish his arguments against working with Officer Jones. To enable both Officers dispatch their duties effectively, which is what the police department seeks, I would proceed to grant Officer Davis his request and partner them with different people.ReferencesAlexandria.gov (2007).

Human Rights. City of Alexandria, Virginia. Retrieved June 1, 2010 from, http://alexandriava.gov/humanrights/info/default.aspx?id=368Coleman, S. (2004). When police should say "no!" to gratuities. Criminal Justice Ethics. Winter-Spring. Kania, R. R. E. (2004). The ethical acceptability of gratuities: still saying "yes" after all these years. Criminal Justice Ethics. Winter-Spring. Florida Department of Law Enforcement. (n.d.). Officer Requirements. Retrieved June 1, 2010 from, http://www.fdle.state.fl.

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