Ethics and Ethical Behavior - Essay Example

? Critical Thinking: Ethics and Ethical Behavior Police is a term used to describe a body of persons who are empowered by the law of the land they are operating in to enforce the law, maintain law and order and protect property. People who are recognized as police officers are required to be citizens of the particular country they are serving. Police forces are supposed to enforce the law of the land as the primary role of the police. Police forces serve various other purposes other than maintaining law and order in society, and they are referred by various terms like police service and/or sheriffs. The nature of police puts the police in conflict with the citizenry they are policing which puts a lot of pressure on the police officers. Police officers are people who are taken out of the community and trained in police work, which means that they are also susceptible to crime. Moral and ethical values should be the guiding principles behind police work, which makes the difference between a police officer and a citizen. Police officers are the first direct link between the law and justice system and the people. Police conduct is critical to the success of a county’s law and justice system in terms of the attitudes and perceptions that the citizenry harbors about the police. This paper seeks to discuss ethics and ethical behavior in police integrity and the impacts of these factors on the police force, the citizenry and the justice system of a country or state. Ethics can be described as notions that individuals harbor with regard to what is right or wrong in every aspect of life (IACP, 2013). Ethics is based on morals that people hold in their minds and manifested in their behavior and actions towards different aspects of their lives. Police work and the law that police work seeks to promote and enforce is based on ethics and morality of a society. Thus, this means that police work should be guided by ethical practices and moral considerations that reflect what is enshrined in the law and justice that police work serves. Ethics dictate people’s behavior towards one another and other aspects of their lives like the environment, which all gets back to doing what is right or wrong, evil or good for the benefit of humankind. Police work requires sound ethical practices and firm moral foundations for its officers. This is to ensure that their service to the citizenry is geared towards execution of justice based on the practices in the service. Integrity of the police becomes a key issue when considering the attitude of the citizenry towards the entire justice system. The police represent the primary contact between the community and the justice system and their conduct is vital to the effectiveness of a country’s justice system. Unethical and immoral behavior among police officers can largely be defined as attitudes and acts that do not reflect the general requirements of law enforcement and justice dispensation as defined by those laws. Unethical police practices are those aspects of behavior, attitudes and perceptions that go against the spirit and common need to maintain law and order (IACP, 2013). Unethical police behavior is one that does not reflect or adhere to the statutes in the law that gives police officers powers to conduct their business. There are various attitudes and practices in the police that are regarded as unethical and immoral. Corruption, discrimination and misuse of powers bestowed upon police officers to dispense justice by enforcing law and order are some of the serious unethical practices by police officers. Corruption is the most debilitating and unethical practice that is engaged in by police officers and undermines their solemn duty to enforce the rule of law. Corruption by police officers endangers the lives and property of those they are supposed to protect. Corruption undermines efforts made by criminal justice systems to dispense justice to the people. Corruption in the police force is facilitated by erosion of ethics and morals that guide police officers in their duty to enforce the law and maintain law and order. Corruption by police officers is mostly precipitated by disregard for ethics and moral values as guiding principles in the dispensation of their duty. They opt to engage in corrupt practices for personal gain, which is characterized by collusion with criminals by abetting their crimes for bribes (Newham & Faull, 2011). Police corruption is driven by the desire for personal gain and police officers accept bribes or promotions if they look the other way when someone commits a crime. Corruption is the vilest manifestation of police misconduct because it risks the wellbeing of a lot people just from the selfish acts of an individual. Most unethical police practices can be regarded as corruption because in its most worldly view corruption is moving away from set ideals. Selectively arresting or pursuing a case on someone based on their creed, race or nationality is corruption (Bayley & Perito, 2011). Corruption is a state of the mind in the sense that it depends on an individual’s perceptions and believes on what is right or wrong and/or evil or good. Corruption by police officers takes many forms that include corruption of authority, which entails taking advantage of their endowed authority to gain favors from the citizenry. According to Bayley & Perito (2011), corruption predisposes police officers to commit crimes like opportunistic theft from arrestees and corpses. Corrupt police officers are prone to being drawn into the world of crime by protecting criminals by allowing the establishment of illegal business operations. Some of these illegal businesses have detrimental effects on society like illegal gambling houses, brothels and drug cartels lead to moral and ethical and moral decay in society (Porter & Warrender, 2009). Corruption practices permeate all sectors of a police force and the justice system if it is allowed fester and spread. This is illustrated when corrupt police officers interfere with the criminal justice system by fixing cases, withholding evidence, bribery and/or tampering with witnesses (Tankebe, 2010). There is direct involvement of police officers in crime where they collude with criminals to perpetrate criminal acts for self-gain. Police officers’ involvement in crime is driven by the need to advance their self-gain interests. The centrl precipitator of corruption in the police force or service is self-gain. Addressing issues that make police officers see the need to turn to corruption to make an extra coin should be addressed to eradicate corruption. Increasing police benefits and wages can be used as strategic measure aimed at curbing corruption. Police officers are empowered by law to use force in the enforcement of the law, and to some extent lethal force when their lives or other innocent person’s lives are in danger (Palmer, 2013). The use of force can result in bodily harm or injuries and lethal force in most cases results in the loss of a life. From an ethical and moral point of view, these aspects of police work might seem ethical and immoral because killing is wrong and evil in all aspects. Other people are found to be of the opinion that the use of force is necessary and thus, it is not unethical to kill a criminal. Ethics and morality in the police is relative, which means that it depends on the perspective and context it is being viewed from and applied. Corrupt police officers ruin the reputation of a police force leading to lack of faith in the justice systems under which they serve (Gordon, Clegg & Kornberger, 2009). Discrimination of individuals based on race, sex, age and nationality among other biases is another unethical police behavior that undermines the objectives and goals of law enforcement agencies (Prenzler, 2009). This leads to individuals seeking alternative avenues of justice because they lose confidence with the system. This can be attributed to the rise of citizen based law enforcement systems like vigilantes that people believe serve their best interests. Unethical practices and attitudes in the police force have significant impacts on the achievement of law enforcement objectives. Police misconduct through acts of corruption is the highest degree of police misconduct that puts the interests of law enforcement agencies at risk, and endangers the lives and property of the citizenry. Police corruption is a betrayal to the people for entrusting their security and wellbeing in the hands of the police, for that trust to be betrayed through acts of corruption, misconduct and unethical practices. The image of a police force in the public limelight is one that is misconstrued in the sense that police officers perceived as superhuman individuals who are capable of superhuman fetes. This can be attributed to the increasing decline in police officers’ health according to a research study conducted by Goldbaum (2012). The perception held by the public about police officers has contributed to the creation of a police culture that does not look favorably on officers with problems (Goldbaum, 2012). This undue pressure to perform under strenuous conditions and situations has contributed to a decline in police health. The reason behind the unrealistic ethical expectation of the police by the public is that the establishing authorities behind the police drive these expectations. Governments urge citizens to leave matters of law enforcement to the police by emphasizing on their exceptional training and competence in handling matters of crime and law enforcement. This leaves the citizenry with no option but to demand and expect exceptional and ethical services from the police as promised by their establishing authorities. Unrealistic expectations from the public upon police officers have been attributed to the development of a police culture that is self-defeating (NPRP, 2013). This is in the sense that police officers adopt attitudes that predispose them to self-neglect even in the event of danger or disease. To avert this trend of police suffering silently because of the fear of stigmatization, it is recommended that police officers receive inoculation training against occupational stressors (IACP, 2013). The authorities that give police officers the power to enforce the law use the media to propagate these messages to the citizenry. The media encompass organizations and firms who are engaged in the dissemination of information using various means. These means include televisions, radios, newspapers and the internet where there are online news forums. The media are regarded as the fourth estate, which is regarded as a watchdog and/or an oversight entity. In this capacity, the media is expected to be bi-partisan in that sense that it is supposed to provide news and information regarding matters affecting society and its governance in a transparent manner. Both the police and the citizenry to advance their interests in terms encouraging greater cooperation between the community and police officers use the media. The citizenry to advocate for the delivery of better services from the justice system also uses the media. With regard to the media’s role in acting as a watchdog for both the government and society, the media has a significant role in campaigning against unethical and immoral practices by police officers. There are notions that the media is used by some quarters to discredit the police and cast them in a bad light by sensationalizing incidences of police misconduct. The media do not fairly sensationalize stories of police misconduct because these cases should be brought out in the open (Hernandez, 2013). This helps facilitate efficient and effective police reforms because exposing police misconduct and corruption identifies the root of the problem. The media’s role in advocating for the cessation of police misconduct is subdued because of the immense power it has in initiating and advocating for change through reforms. The media’s role in advocating and advancing the interests of the police and the citizenry should be increased to advance the effectiveness of the police and their cooperation with the people. References Bayley, D., & Perito, R. (2011). Police Corruption. Goldbaum, E. (2012). Police Officer Stress Creates Significant Health Risks Compared to General Population. University of Buffalo. News Center: Reaching Others. Retrieved From: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2012/07/13532.html Gordon, R., Clegg, S., & Kornberger, M. (2009). Embedded ethics: discourse and power in the New South Wales police service. Organization Studies, 30(1), 73-99. Hernandez, S. (2013). Deputy arrested on suspicion of bribery at jail. Orange County Register. Web. 17th October 2013. Retrieved From: http://www.ocregister.com/news/jail-495055-amormino-custody.html International Association of Chiefs of Police (2013). Ethics Training in Law Enforcement: A Report by the Ethics Training Subcommittee of the IACP Ad Hoc Committee on Police Image and Ethics. Virginia: IACP. Web. 17th October 2013. Retrieved From: http://www.theiacp.org/PoliceServices/ProfessionalAssistance/Ethics/ReportsResourc es/EthicsTraininginLawEnforcement/tabid/194/Default.aspx National Police Research Platform (2013). Police Stress, Burnout, and Health. NPRP. Web. 17th October 2013. Retrieved From: http://www.nationalpoliceresearch.org/stress- burnout-and-health/ Newham, G., & Faull, A. (2011). Protector Or Predator?: Tackling Police Corruption in South Africa. Palmer, P. (2013). Applied ethics: A call for a new approach to police'diversity'training. Australasian Policing, 5(1), 7. Porter, L. E., & Warrender, C. (2009). A multivariate model of police deviance: examining the nature of corruption, crime and misconduct. Policing & Society,19(1), 79-99. Prenzler, T. (2009). Police Corruption: Preventing Misconduct and Maintaining Integrity. Illustrated Edition. New York: Taylor & Francis. Tankebe, J. (2010). Public Confidence in the Police Testing the Effects of Public Experiences of Police Corruption in Ghana. British journal of criminology,50(2), 296-319. Read More