5-3 Final Project Milestone Three
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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Philosophy
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Feb 20, 2024
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5-3 Final Project: Milestone Three: Theories, Values, and Duties Short Paper
Ethical Theories and Personal Values
For scenario #3, which I have chosen to do my final on, the ethical theory I would rely on to address this situation would be deontological ethics. Deontological ethics in law enforcement is one’s duty to act. A police officer has the ethical responsibility to be truthful, in any court proceedings that they may be called to testify at. They must be truthful about what they heard, what they saw, and what they did while performing their duties. This approach would be effective because deontology represents the moral conflicts police officers encounter in the line of duty, and they are mandated to make decisions and fulfill their responsibilities that aligns with
police values, and with the values that society believes is morally acceptable behavior. Separating personal morals from ethics is extremely important for law enforcement to do their jobs. Personal morals are how a person decides what is right and wrong based on their own personal view and beliefs. Ethics are the universal ground rules for handling different types of situations, a police officer does that by treating every person they come in to contact with while performing their duties. They must also follow ethical guidelines, no matter what their own personal feelings or opinions are. It is only appropriate for police officers to allow their own morals to guide their actions when they are performing their duties in an unbiased manner, and their actions conform with the immediate circumstances, or in the interest of public safety. In many jurisdictions, officers are encouraged to use discretion when enforcing the law, but not if it compromises their ethical responsibility to uphold the law. A law enforcement officers ethical responsibility does take precedence over their own personal views, opinions, and beliefs.
Duties
If I was faced with this dilemma, I would have to tell my commanding officer immediately, but privately. I would make sure that I wrote a formal report detailing the actions of my partner, even if his report contradicted my statement. Law enforcement officers’ are supposed to do the right thing all of the time, even if no one is looking. Police officers must gain the trust of the community in which they serve by doing their job according to the high ethical and moral standard that is consistent with the rule of law. The responsibility I have as a law enforcement professional in this scenario is to be honest, and to fulfill my duties that I have sworn to with integrity, impartiality, and dignity. I have the responsibility to report the “bad apple”, which would be my partner, for his unethical behavior and the bad decisions he made by not following proper procedure, and for violating the Constitutional rights of a citizen in the community, even if that citizen was suspected of committing a crime. My ethical responsibility does take precedence over my own personal views, and if the two do conflict, I am to perform my duties by the ethical standards that police officers are held by. What has impacted society’s views of acceptable behavior as it applies to a criminal justice practitioner’s duties are the many cases of police brutality that has happened in the past 15 to 20 years. People who have been suspected of committing crimes and placed under arrest and then abused to the point where they have died while in police custody, is what makes members of any community be fearful of the police, which causes community members to no longer trust the police.
References
Fitch, B. D. (2011, October 1). Focus on Ethics: Rethinking Ethics in law enforcement
. FBI. https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/focus/focus-on-ethics-rethinking-ethics-in-law-enforcement
Rule 4501:2-6-07: Code of ethics and oath of office.
Rule 4501:2-6-07 - Ohio Administrative Code | Ohio Laws. (n.d.). https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-4501:2-6-
07
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