Ethical Police Administration, Essay Example for Students

Few organizations require higher ethical standards than law enforcement. As Roufa (2018) explains, the police agency is under more scrutiny than any other organization. The society watches the moves of every officer. When it comes to law enforcement, a few bad apples spoil the reputation of the whole bunch. To better understand the issue of ethics in police administration, it is essential to understand the meaning of ethics. (Roufa, 2018), defined ethics as doing the right thing. What the article fails to establish is the definition of 'the right thing.' That term is better explained by (Earl, 2017). According to (Earl, 2017), the 'the right thing' refers to a category of acts that are considered socially acceptable. As (Earl, 2017)explains, that ethical survival requires that the officer show personal accountability, conscious recognition of possible ethical challenges and develop ethical strengths.

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From the two articles, it is possible to determine what an ethical organization should look like and how it should operate. The ethical administration of a police department requires a clearly defined code of ethics. As for the police department, they have a dilemma between ethical survival and officer survival. According to (Earl, 2017), ethical complacency plays a significant role in ending careers.

An organization that is supposed to have ethical behavior, the training and leadership have to focus on ethical survival instead of officer survival. Most police administration fails to exhibit ethical behavior because of ethical complacency. Even though the police have the responsibility to maintain peace, they also have the responsibility to be of service to the community(Masters et al., 3013). The obligation to keep order is one that is biblical. Mathew 5:9 says," blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God."

Organizations riddled with corruption and unethical behavior are likely to have unethical conduct like racism and discrimination. However, most officers would agree that they would not wish to undergo discrimination. According to the scriptures, Luke 6: 31, "And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them." From the biblical worldview, a policeman is not supposed to enforce the law alone. A police organization should operate with the mindset of being of service to the community. The police cannot be of assistance to the society if they are unethical.

References

Earl, K. (2017, Oct 30). 9 steps to keeping your cop ethics in check. Retrieved from PoliceOne.com: https://www.policeone.com/police-jobs-and-careers/articles/445839006-9-steps-to-keeping-your-cop-ethics-in-check/.

Masters, R.E., Way, L.B., Gerstenfeld, P. B., Muscat, B.T., Hopper, M., Dusch, J, P., Pincu., L., & Skrapec, C. A. (2013). CJ realities and challenges (2nd. ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Roufa, T. (2018, April 15). Ethics in Law Enforcement and Policing. Retrieved from Balance Careers: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/ethics-in-law-enforcement-and-policing-974542.