Law Enforcement and Ethics Essay

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Ethics in Policing

It is crucial for organizations to clearly define ethics and ethical behaviors in the workplace and to also clearly tell its employees what constitutes unethical behavior (Roufa, 2016). There is a strong push to uphold the high ethical standards set for the law enforcement community. However, without clear definition of those ethical standards, such efforts would likely not achieve any significant results.

Our understanding of ethics and ethical conduct is based on our personal and societal values. Personal values are those which are based on our personal experiences, religious beliefs, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. These values are unique to every person, which means they are not the best values to inform our professional conduct. Other values, however, are dear to the entire societies or groups. They are derived from the groups' history and understanding of ethical behavior. This is the proper platform on which to base professional conduct/ ethics. Conducting oneself in an ethical manner basically means doing the right thing at the right time. To promote ethical conduct within an organization or institution one simply has to clearly define what ethical conduct is and what it's not and the consequences of not following the said conduct (Roufa, 2016).

The Role and Value of Ethics in Policing

According to Roufa (2016), ethics play a great role in guiding the conduct of everyone in law enforcement and it should not be thought of as something to be turned to only when one is alleged to have behaved unprofessionally.

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In other words, the emphasis of ethics ought to be on what good professional conduct is and how law enforcement officers ought to behave rather than on how to punish individuals found to have behaved unethically. Ethics and integrity are important to effective law enforcement and normally play a great role in building trust between the police departments and the communities they serve. Professional/ ethical conduct by the police promotes shared responsibility, improves communication and enhances community interactions. Police departments must work hard to make sure that their officers are what the public expects them to be. Officers should lead by example by carrying themselves and their duties in an ethical manner if they are to succeed in policing. It is only in this way that law enforcement officers will be able to deliver the level of service demanded of them and make a difference in the communities they serve.

Case Study of Unethical Police Practices

Early 2014, a former East Haven law enforcement officer, a Mr. Dennis Spaulding, was convicted of violating the civil rights of several individuals in the community he served and sentenced to five years' imprisonment by Judge Alvin Thompson. According to U.S. attorney Deridre Daly, officer Spaulding repetitively violated the rights….....

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