The Slippery Slope, Police Character and Ethics - Coursework Example

Police Character and Ethics HERE YOUR ACADEMIC ORGANIZATION HERE YOUR HERE HERE Police Character and Ethics The Slippery Slope The Slippery Slope argument essentially states that once a certain action or behavior begins it will lead to a series of undesirable events and actions in the future. The terminology suggests a momentum in which a person in law enforcement begins behaving irresponsibility or unethical. Once the negative behaviors have begun, they have started down a path which will lead to further (or increasingly unethical) behaviors, ultimately ending in a series of undesirable consequences to the officer. Tully (2000) offers that people inherently choose the unethical over the ethical when the outcome of behaviors is in their personal best interest. With this in mind, in terms of law enforcement, the Slippery Slope theory/philosophy represents the initial movement downward into undesirable actions which will make it difficult for the individual to halt these actions especially if they experience no negative consequences for the behavior. The Slippery Slope is linked closely with gratuities received by law enforcement officers. One notable Florida police sergeant defines police gratuities as “the receipt of free meals, services and discounts” (Andrews, 2004). Some might offer that taking such gratuities from local community members as a thank you for quality police service is unethical. This argument suggests that once an officer has accepted such gratuities, it might be reasonably concluded that the giver may expect certain favors in exchange for that free, proverbial cup of coffee. Under the Slippery Slope argument, favors in exchange for gratuities can include business referrals such as using specific towing companies, ambulance services or repair shops (Andrews). As the officer moves further down this slippery slope, becoming accustomed to this unethical behavior, they might now be tempted to remove desired items from crime scenes, evidence lockers, or any other environment in which they have access and can get away with the action of theft. The Slippery Slope does not necessarily suggest that all officers are going to be corruptible, only that the simple action of taking a gratuity as a gesture of appreciation can lead to an overwhelming series of negative consequences which jeopardize community, legal and social interests. In 2001, after the World Trade Center incident, community citizens across the nation were offering free meals, free admission to amusement parks, etc. all in an attempt to salute their law enforcement heroes (Andrews). The Slippery Slope argument might suggest that officers would become accustomed to this, leading to an inflated ego, and beginning to expect these gratuities as a matter of personal entitlement. It might be argued that at the point where accepting gratuities moves to entitlement, the officer has begun the journey down the Slippery Slope and will maintain a difficult time trying to climb back up to moral and ethical reasoning. The argument basically implies that once the downward movement begins, the negative outcomes will intensify and snowball until a simple gratuity becomes a larger disciplinary problem. The Police Character The Bad: This type of officer generally has no measureable sense of ethics and morality and often works to exploit others in the general public (Smith, 2005). This person’s generally philosophy is that others should be victimized and feels no remorse for acting unethically or abusing the authority they have been given. This character borders on the criminal-minded and should never be considered for a law enforcement position as it is extremely likely that he or she will never conform to ethical and legal expectations as a matter of both principal and policy. A relevant example of the bad officer behavior would be breaking and entering while under the guise of protecting the local community or coming across a burglary in process and stealing items that he or she desires prior to notifying the organization that a crime has occurred or is in process. The Uncontrolled: This character profile maintains a very small sense of ethics and often gives into personal temptation, even at a time when they are on duty. Though they can sometimes be trained and will sometimes fit in well with their police colleagues, they will be the first to abandon their post in favor of a more personally-gratifying opportunity (Smith). This type of individual might begin to accept bribes and gratuities without reservation, making them generally unqualified to hold a position as officer. An example of the uncontrolled includes abandoning their post in the wake of a dangerous situation, such as during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans when officers simply left the streets in favor of a more stable environment so as to avoid patrolling the streets. Additionally, this type of person might consider that the legal system is too lenient on speeding truck drivers so this type of character might believe it is acceptable to steal from them. The Self-Controlled: This type of character maintains a relatively high level of self-discipline and performs their job roles within expectations and with competence. This type of character can resist the temptation to act unethically and, if ever tempted to engage in negative behaviors, their sense of personal restraint will quickly bring them back to level ground. They do, however, often resent being held to conduct standards which are higher than their other, less-controlled colleagues. An example of this character is that they might, over time, feel that certain criminals get away with their actions too frequently and consider taking the law into their own hands to elicit justice. However, their moral center will prevent this from occurring. The Excellent Character: This person maintains the highest levels of moral and ethical character and are largely trustworthy, fair and work quite hard to satisfy their job obligations. These individuals stand for positive ideals and work to achieve excellence in police work. This character generally speaks for itself in terms of behaviors as the excellent character might refuse a small-scale gratuity (such as a cup of coffee) and report the incident to his or her superiors. This individual makes a model officer in most situations. Public Corruption Society at Large Hypothesis: This hypothesis offers that it is the activities and values of general society which leads to corruption. The very design of society, in terms of community members’ behaviors and actions leads to additional unethical or immoral behaviors in others, much like the Slippery Slope argument. If members of society are offering bribes or accepting favors in exchange for gratuities, this leads to a breakdown of social harmony. An example of this hypothesis related to policing would involve specific sectors of the system which are corrupt, such as an officer witnessing judges taking bribes, leading them to believe that the officers, too, can benefit from these actions. In essence, society’s poor behaviors will rub off on others until corruption runs rampant. Affiliation Hypothesis: Under this hypothesis, officers in the police organization are exposed to corruption by the unethical behaviors of existing officers. The Affiliation premise generally states that officers do not start out in their positions as corrupt, but over time as they witness veteran officers accepting bribes or any other number of corrupted behaviors, the new officers will adopt these negative actions as well. Without some form of external oversight committee, it is hypothesized that group affiliation and the corruption which exists within it will continue to occur or escalate. Essentially, unethical behaviors within the police organization become the social norm, making it inviting to participate in crime or other activities when no consequences exist. A relevant example might be an officer with over ten years of experience who takes small quantities of drugs from evidence lockers and then throws an off-duty party inviting other officers to enjoy the fruits of their criminal behavior. Rotten Apple Hypothesis: This hypothesis suggests that it is because of individuals and their personal propensity to commit unethical or criminal activities that corruption occurs (Glenn, 2007). In this theory, corruption is not the social norm within the organization, it occurs only because of the actions and bad character of certain individuals. Lack of adequate organizational training and unscrutinized hiring policies and oversight generally allows these individuals to fall through the proverbial cracks of oversight, creating the opportunity for corruption to occur. A relevant example of this might involve a bad character officer who gloats about taking bribes in an attempt to coerce others to follow the same immoral code of conduct, creating negative consequences for the police organization. Though not everyone in the organization will submit to corruption, the individual nature of bad character serves as a catalyst for corruptive tendencies both internally and externally. Reform Strategies for Corruption Control There are a wide variety of potential strategies available to control corruption. One method is to institute an oversight function, both from internal and external reviewers, who would be trained and equipped to perform routine audits of police behaviors. The implementation of an early-warning system database (EWS), in which officers who have exhibited corruptive or unethical behaviors are highlighted allowing management officials to intervene prior to the establishment of corruption as an internal norm (Hughes & Andre, 2007). Traditional methods of personnel evaluation often meet with failure in an attempt to deal with problem officers (Hughes & Andre), making it vital to set up this EWS system as a preventative oversight function. It might be that assessing officers giving performance evaluations are biased in relation to the officer being assessed due to personal affiliation and will provide an excellent performance review even in light of known unethical behaviors. Such a system would be important during the selection process in hiring new officers as it would identify any potential officers who have, in other organizations, performed to less-than-exemplary standards. The IAPro software package for EWS costs approximately $10,000 (Dees, 2003), a one-time investment for database management in the fight against future corruption and will likely pay for itself in minimizing the need for higher payroll for internal agents to routinely monitor police behaviors. Additionally, an enhanced focus on organizational training pertaining to ethical conduct and organizational expectations should be implemented immediately when corruption is known to exist. Sloan (2006) offers that policy manuals simply are not enough as they cannot create a formal rule for every situation which occurs in the organization. The author additionally charges that most officers, during their time at the academy, spend as little as three hours in ethics training amidst a curriculum consisting of hundreds of hours of learning; a very small focus on this important issue. With this in mind, it is vitally important to establish an internal ethics training curriculum which targets the entire organizational staff and is interactive to include hypothetical policing scenarios and requests solutions from attending officers on how best to handle the situation. This particular recommendation for corruption control would be conducted by both internal and external representatives specializing in ethics policy, including the chief of police. This ethics session would be reinforced by new policy measures which identify stricter consequences for a variety of unethical behaviors. It would be a requirement, for the purpose of securing the interests of the organization, to have officers sign off that they have read, understood, and agreed to abide by the new disciplinary policy regarding ethics. It has been said that ignorance of the law is not a valid excuse for committing a crime and this statement is just as relevant in the new, formal ethics training seminars. This is a low-cost method of reinforcement. References Andrews, Wayne C. (2004). “Police Gratuities, Public Perception after September 11, 2001”. Clearwater, Florida Government. Retrieved 4 Nov 2008 from http://www.clearwaterpolice.org/articles/andrews.asp Dees, Tim. (2003). “Up Close: Internal Affairs: Internal Affairs Management Software”. Law and Order. 51(5). Cited in Hughes, F. & Andre, L. (2007). “Problem Officer Variables and Early-Warning Systems”. http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&article_id=1313&issue_id=102007 Glenn, Fallon. (2007). “Predominant Theories of Police Corruption”. Retrieved 4 Nov 2008 fromhttp://www.associatedcontent.com/article/359222/predominant_theories_of _police_corruption.html?page=2&cat=31 Hughes, F. & Andre, L. (2007). “Problem Officer Variables and Early-Warning Systems”. Grand Valley State University School of Criminal Justice. Police Chief Magazine Online. Retrieved 4 Nov 2008 from http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&article_id=1313&issue_id=102007 Sloan, A, PhD. (2006). “Ethics and the Police”. Ethics Policies Presentation. http://cop.spcollege.edu/cop/training/ethics/Ethics1.ppt Smith, Nathan. (2005). “Delattre’s Four Classifications of Character”. Computer Forensic Technician. Retrieved 4 Nov 2008 from http://www.computer-forensic-technician.com/wordpress/delattres-four-classifications-of-character/ Tully, Edward J. (2000). “The Slippery Slope”. National Executive Institute Associates, Major Cities Chief Association and Major County Sheriff’s Association. Retrieved 4 Nov 2008 from http://www.neiassociates.org/slippery.htm Read More