Terrorism, Social Stigma and Ethics in Law Enforcers - Essay Example

Terrorism, Social Stigma and Ethics in law Enforcers How has terrorism impacted the police mission in the United States? What disagreements exist regarding the appropriate law enforcement behavior which fights terrorism but maintains personal liberties? The primary roles of police in the US are to support and enforce the laws of the society, investigating crimes and apprehending offenders, preventing crime from happening, ensuring tranquillity and domestic peace, and providing the community with law enforcement-related services. Before the onset of terrorism, the primary mission of the police in the US remained the same. When a terrorist attack occurred in September 2001, police concentrated more on antiterrorism as well as incidents of terrorism. The police are expected to provide emergency response to terrorist threats. Police officers are now using most of their resources and time for training in readiness for future possible terrorist attacks. The police are also gathering information and intelligence needed to prevent and stop terrorist attacks. The police’s responsibility of emergency response to terrorism takes precedence over other duties (Delattre 2006). Disagreements have emerged following the 2001 terrorist attacks. One of such disagreements is how much information and intelligence should federal agencies share with the police and state. The point of sharing information results from the fact that the FBI holds their information too much. Criminal information and intelligence must be shared across jurisdictions and agencies in the country. It results from the fact that information sharing is crucial in effecting antiterrorism. Police officers interact with the society that enables them to exchange information and gather intelligence. The intelligence and information gathered is important to other agencies including the FBI (Delattre 2006). While still in their line of duty, police officers are required to exhibit the recommended law enforcement behaviours in fighting terrorism and maintaining personal liberties. Disagreements have arisen on how the police ought to operate when collecting intelligence on terrorism. While part of their function is protecting civil liberty, there is rising criticism on how terrorism suspects should be handled. There are disagreements on the use of force in gathering information related to terrorism activities. Using force means that the police will torture individuals while gathering information. Using torture while interrogating people and suspects are wrong as the officers will be acting against their basic responsibility of upholding the people’s personal liberties (Delattre, 2006). Antiterrorism cannot be tackled by the Federal single handed. The federal requires assistance from the police and other law enforcement units. The local police are of importance because they patrol communities, public events and guard public speeches. The local police are more familiar with the community in terms of activities and map of the area than other disciplined bodies. Therefore, information must be shared nationwide across agencies and remain secure to safeguard the citizens’ privacy. Discuss individual conscience and police assignments using specific examples. How can training prepare would be police officers for the ethical dilemmas they will face? The word conscience refers to inner feeling and sense of differentiating the right and a wrong in a person’s motive or conduct with the ultimate outcome of directing one to the right action. A police officer, for instance, may not believe in witchcraft because of religious beliefs. In such a case, the police’s conscience means that safeguarding witchcraft is against his/her religion and is ethically wrong and against the law. While hiring police officers, the government should ascertain that the recruit is a person of conscience. An individual of conscience means an officer whose habits exhibit a trustworthy sense of wrong and right in regard to the golden rule. With the police having a good self-foundation, training will allow them discover what they consider good and right (Delattre 2006). It is expected that police officers will face many ethical dilemmas while doing their duties. To enable them overcome the dilemmas they will meet, they should be mentally prepared. The best preparation is achieved by training the law enforcement officers to-be. When they are well prepared, they will be in a better place to make rational judgments when faced by difficult circumstances (Papenfuhs, 2011). Training exposes the officers to-be in similar scenarios that they will meet at work; this will help them determine which course of action to take. The trainees are taught how to analyse situations from the position of the law enforcer and that of the society. In conclusion, effective policing relies on inborn traits more than on educational achievements and histories of good credit but the need for training cannot be undermined. What role does social stigma play in police ethics? Give specific examples from reading or experiences where social stigma played a role in either furthering police corruption or reducing it. Social stigma is evident in officers whose actions are flawed. Law enforcement officers of good characters are not victims of social stigma even when they are not supervised. Police who violate the accepted norms are said to be outsiders and stigmatized. An example social stigma by the police happened in 1993, in New York where the police department tolerated corruption, brutality, fraud, dishonesty and other bad manners by the Buddy Boys. Supporting wrong actions by the officers in protecting their actions from being discovered as corrupt and the reluctance to uncover corruption was to be found in the whole department (Delatree 2006). Law enforcement should operate based on their rules of sworn duty. The perception withheld by the public greatly influences the operations of police officers. After the 2011 terrorist attack, the public thought that Islamic people were behind the attacks. After the Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility of the attack, stigma has increased in the western world over the Islamic people. Police officers who hold the assumption that people with Arabic traits are a threat will affect their execution of duties. Police with bad attitudes against Arabic people will harass them thus contributing to the growing social stigma against them (McLachlin, 2009). Are the ethical forces behind police corruption the same as those involved in police abuses of force? Identify four components of public corruption within the criminal justice field, and describe the strategies used to control this corruption The moral forces that influence police corruption are the same as those that promote police abuse of force. During the swearing in of police officers, they vow to follow the Law Code of Ethics. Police abuse and corruption are described under the limits of the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics. The public depend on the police officers to protect and serve them. There exist several moral forces that are used as a guide by the law enforcers while they are executing their duties. First, the police follow the values of service to all. The officers are required to provide service to all citizens without considering their race, religion, or gender. The moral requirements further require that all police officers should desist from engaging in any intimidation and misconduct regarding sexual harassment. Involvement in any forms of corrupt deals is prohibited in their code of ethics (Pollock 2011). The moral provisions governing police corruptions are, therefore, the same as those that guide police abuse of force. Corruption covers various activities ranging from protection of gangs by the police to police receiving free goods and services. The worst forms of corruption are when the law enforcers are involved in criminal works. In summary, any violation of the enforcement Code of Ethics is unethical (Pollock 2011). Components of Public Corruption There are many components of public corruption that are within the criminal justice field such as fraud, assumptions, tricks, gifts, opportunities and many others. The first component of corruption occurs trough opportunity. Police officers work unsupervised and while doing their duties encounter may encounter some situations that are tempting. The circumstances may be tempting to the extent that they engage or accept bribes. Such times conditions arise especially on crimes that are harmless such as gambling. The people involved can give the police officer goods of value in order to drop the charges. The law enforcer, therefore, gets him/herself in a situation that is difficult to ignore. Another component that causes public corruption is assuming that the police receive poor salaries. The enforcers, therefore, work and operate under the assumption that they need more allowances and compensation for their duties. With the police having that in mind, they are eager to receive compensations and rewards when the situations are available (Delattre 2006). Strategies to Stop Police Corruption In order to reduce or stop police corruption, the government ought to strive and improve the salaries of the officers. Attractive salaries will increase the commitment of the officers in executing their duties. It is also vital to put emphasis on police standards. In enhancing their values, the police should regularly get training on the need to uphold ethical standards. Insisting on the police’s need to uphold moral standards will ensure that they critically think of their actions before executing them. When they think properly, they will carefully undertake tasks in a manner that is ethical (Pollock 2011). References Delattre, E. J. (2006). Character and cops: ethics in policing. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research;. McLachlin, B. (2009). The challenge of fighting terrorism while maintaining our civil liberties. Retrieved from http://www.biicl.org/files/4778 ottawa wcc.pdf Papenfuhs, S. (2011). Ethical dilemmas cops face daily. PoliceOne.com, 1, 2. Pollock, J. M. (2011). Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. Read More