CHAPTER 7

ETHICS IN THE POLICE SERVICE

This chapter is a discussions of the practical reasons why police officers are particularly prone to be confronted with with the ethical questions and dilemmas in their
proffessional lives.
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES:
1.
Become familiar with the major arguments supporting the importance og ethics in police proffession.
2.
Understand how to analyze an ethical dilemma.
3.
Become sensitive to the types of ethical dilemmas faced in one's proffessial life.
POLICE MORALIZING
1.
The discretionary Decision Making
It is the critical decisions which affects peoples lives which the law gives to the police officer in deciding when to make an arrest and when not to make an arrest.It also involves
when to use and when not to use force and what level of force use in dealing with a deviant and not deviant citizen.All of these affects people's lives profoundly. They are life
changing and such decisions must be made in a logical, intelligent and educated manner with an eye toward what is the best interests of justice and each officer must consider
what justice means for the individual officer and for the closely related citizens and for the society in general.
2.
Confronted with conflicting interest.
On a regular basis, the cop on the beat must judge the relative merits of conflicting from citizen wth different perspectives. This is hat theyeven more difficult than simply than
simply exercising the discretionary decision making power' because quite often both parties have legitimate claims.Thus the officer on the street is often presented with two
sides stories that are correct from the perspectives of the citizens involved.
POLICE POWER
Because the power of the police to use force is apparent and because people so often object to this type of power, most people fous on the coercive power as the way that police
obtain cooperaton from citizens. Anytime police are nearby, the implied threat of arrest is present.The uniforms, bdges,weapons and carriage of the police also imply that they are
ready to use violence.None of these threat is unrealistic. They are substancial.But focusing on police power as exclusively relating to the use of violence suggests that threats to
use forse are the only means at the disposal of the police.that these are the only tools the police used in controlling behavior but their powers of logic and intellectual persuassion
to convince people to behave themselves.
THREE TYPES OF POWER
EXHORTATION: Convincing people thruogh the appeal or use of logic or reason or morals to do right thing, the honest thing or the moral thing.
RECIPROCITY: Exchanging something to obtain the desired behavior from another.
COERCION:

Obtaining the desired behavior using force to the person being coerced.

Conduct creating the appea

PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC SERVICE ETHICS.
1.

PUBLIC SERVICE. Public servants should treat their office as a public trust, using the power and resources ofpublic office only to advance public interests and
not to attain personal benefit or pursue any other private interests incompatible with public good.

2.

Objective Judgement. Public servants should employ independent objective judgementvin performing their duties, deciding all matters on the merits, free from
voidable conflicts of interests and both real and apparent improper influences.

3.

Accountability. Public servants should ensure that government is conducted openly, efficiently and honorably in a manner that permits the citizenry to mke
informed judgements and hold government officials accountable.

4.

Democratic Leadership. Public servants should honor and respect the principles of representative democracy and set a positive example of good citizenship by
scrupulously observing the letter and spirit of the law and rules.

5.

Respectability.Punlic servants should safeguard public confidence in the integrity of the governmentbby being honest, fair, caring and respectful and by avoiding
the conduct creating the appearance of impropriety or which is other wise unbefitting a public official.

ACTIVITIES:
1.
Group the students in 4. Let each group discuss the course objectives.
2.
QUIZ after worshop.
REFERENCES.
1.
Police training manual
2.
Police ethics-by Douglas w. Perez and j. Alan Moore
3.
Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice system.

BY: HARRISON B. ROJAS............................. JUNE 2014