Contemporary Issues in Modern Police Operations and the Policing

Contemporary Issues in Modern Police Operations and the Policing

Police Ethics and Integrity

CRJ 430 – Advanced Law Enforcement

Introduction

In this paper, I will summarize the history of law enforcement operations as it relates to Police Ethics and Integrity. I will determine the key law enforcement agencies that are responsible for enforcing law related to Police Ethics and Integrity.  I will explain at least one major change to law enforcement operations related to Police Ethics and Integrity with one reason why the identified change was necessary. I will give my opinion why the change that I determined improved police operations in dealing with Police Ethics and Integrity. I will also discuss the main requirements related to training that local and federal law enforcement agencies must address as they relate to Police Ethics and Integrity.

Summarize the History

From infancy to adulthood in so many ways we have learned that morality is a person’s value and belief in right versus wrong and good versus evil. Integrity is the strict following of moral principles regardless of the situation and outcome. Ethics is the philosophical study of morality and the right, wrong, and everything in between. Ethics also make efforts to understand and justify morality while establishing principles and guides for moral behavior.

A criminal justice professional is put in a role to assist, protect, and defend people and their laws. That criminal justice professional must live by example and understand those very laws they support even more when they are in a position of leadership because of the significant influence they possess to teach, train, and direct subordinates in the integrity that should be the core of what they do every day. The public is always watching, and won’t is supportive of unethical, criminal justice professionals or actions. The bad of society is also waiting and looking to manipulate and control to their benefit, anyone they can. They will use any method to include bribing, extorting and blackmailing people in criminal justice to benefit their agenda to no end.

Good moral people should be hired and trained in ethics and ethical treatment of others. Those people should also be rewarded and recognized for excellence in following and leading others to develop sound ethical practices. This way we can ensure that the professionals that are best suited for criminal justice are working in that profession.

Law Enforcement Agencies Responsible

All law enforcement agencies are responsible for enforcing law related to Police Ethics and Integrity. Background screening and psychological testing is conducted during the hiring process and is every bit as important as test scores and physical fitness level. We hire, train, and supervise police officers who support and follow the personal and organizational responsibility of Police Ethics and Integrity.

By actively using the knowledge, skills and tools and our innate capacity for rational thought to make good choices, we are utilizing critical thinking. We should maintain goals to critical thinking such as “(1) understanding and evaluate reasoning, including existing and proposed laws, policies, and court decisions; (2) making well-reasoned choices and decisions, both in our personal lives and in professional contexts; and (3) being fair-minded, avoiding the traps or pitfalls of emotion, convention, and other problematic—though common—influences on moral judgments and decisions.” (Williams & Arrigo, 2012) Those goals and recognizing critical versus non-critical thinking, avoiding errors in critical thinking, and checking your understanding will all make you a more capable, ethical, and critical thinker.

One Major Change and the Value Gained

One major change to law enforcement operations related to Police Ethics and Integrity is the change the corruption in major cities of the U.S.. Throughout history we have had Law enforcement officials who were dirty and paid under the table for various things such as “looking the other way” or taking a bribe, or assisting if not committing a crime themselves. “In the 1970s, two separate trends were discernible in police ethics. First, as the extent of police corruption in New York and other cities became clear, many practitioners advocated training in ethics as one step among many that could curb officers’ abuses of their roles” (Heffernan, 1982). By employing, educating, rewarding, and punishing officers according to their level of ethical treatment will change attitudes, improve and popularize appropriate treatment and will change the organization and the public they serve.

Main Requirements Related to Training

The main requirements related to training that local and federal law enforcement agencies must address as they relate to Police Ethics and Integrity follow along with many core values. We should not only hire but continue to do conduct analysis for future growth and training.

When a police force is looking for recruits, they carefully select the best candidates that prepare and have core values. Police officers must be able to prioritize tasks, make quick and informed decisions, perform well under pressure, be in excellent physical condition, and communicate effectively while under extreme pressure of the job and in efforts to assist, protect, and serve their public.

Some core values are integrity, honesty, hard work, kindness, compassion, empathy, sympathy, justice, and bravery “These ideas, these so-called universal values, help guide us toward ethical behavior and ethical decision making. They help inform us of what is expected of us and what actions we should take.” From those values, I would choose integrity, compassion, and justice because they are the core of ethical thinking and treatment. Because I believe an officer should be honest in word and deed. I think an officer should have character and be further trained to be compassionate to the public they serve. I also believe an officer should believe and train in fair, unbiased, and equal justice for all people regardless of their differences.

Conclusion

In this paper, I summarized the history of law enforcement operations as it relates to Police Ethics and Integrity. I determined the key law enforcement agencies that are responsible for enforcing law related to Police Ethics and Integrity. I explained at least one significant change to law enforcement operations related to Police Ethics and Integrity with one reason why the identified change was necessary. I gave my opinion why the change that I determined improved police operations in dealing with Police Ethics and Integrity. I also discussed the main requirements related to training that local and federal law enforcement agencies must address as they referred to Police Ethics and Integrity.

Our text and in our class have taught the importance of ethics. Agencies that don’t follow proper ethics may be suspect to punishment, loss of wages, firing, or even being sued. Officers may be sued under three different tort laws: strict liability, intentional tort, and negligence. Most officers are sued under the Civil Rights Act where it says that anyone acting

Under the authority of the law which violates someone else’s constitutional rights can be sued. Some examples would be a false arrest, false imprisonment, unnecessary use of force and others. In Chapter 14 of our text are states, “Ethics deals with standards of honesty, fairness, and integrity in behavior. An entire issue is one with only two sides—the decision is between black and white. A relative issue is one with many sides, that is, varying shades of gray between the two absolute positions” (Hess, 2018).