Submitted by calebsmom2006 on 07/30/2010 04:06 PM Flag This Paper
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Police Ethics and Deviance
Angela Shepard
CJS 210
July 24, 2010
Police face ethical questions everyday, many of which only they will ever know about. It may be as simple as letting a person off a traffic ticket by only giving them a warning or as complex as, not secretly pocketing drug money from a recent bust. Serious or not, the ethical standards police live by can not conflict with the morally and legally right thing to do. “Police officers shall not compromise their integrity or that of their Department or profession, by taking or attempting to influence actions when a conflict of interest exists (FDLE).
According to Velasquez, Andre, Shanks, and Meyer (1987) Ethics is driven by two sides. “First, ethics refers to well based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one’s ethical standards, ones own moral and values…†weighted at times against peer and social pressure†(SCU). As leaders who have the power to imprison people and take away their freedom, it is especially important that the police are ethical. Police understand and psychologically embrace the value of ethics whether it is on the job or off the job.
As citizens sworn to uphold the law, police are required to follow their internal moral standards, but they have an ethical business code of conduct to follow as well, one that is written on legal paper. For example, a police officer’s “fundamentally duty is to serve mankind, to safeguard lives and property, to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation, the peace against violence or disorder, and to respect the Constitutional rights of all men…†(FDLE).
Another ethical standard police are sworn to is that they will provide not only truthful information under testimony, but that any information gathered on a...