Quality and Availability of Ethics Training in Criminal Justice

Quality and Availability of Ethics Training in Criminal Justice

Introduction

Many reasons cause integrity, moral, and ethical issues in law enforcement officers. The reasons range from lack of adequate training to stress and depression, to loose morals and corrupt officers and their superiors. This research paper examines some ethical laws and problems and offers some solutions.

Ethical Problems in Law Enforcement

Like any other profession, law enforcement has its code of ethics that each law enforcement officer must abide by. However, due to their nature of work, law enforcement has its unique subculture. A culture such as loyalty, which they call brotherhood, blue line code of silence, teamwork, safety, and sacrifice are necessary for law enforcement officers to succeed in their work (McCartney & Parent, 2015).

However, such culture can become unethical when the law enforcement officers go beyond their obligation to each other and maintaining law and order. For instance, corruption is a widespread practice in law enforcement. Loyalty and code of silence prevent law enforcement officers from exposing such corruption since it is either their friends or someone close to them who is corrupt. The case can even be worse if it is their seniors who are evil, and as a junior officer, one can’t take the issue forward, since any person who does this is labeled a mole.

The police officers have been involved in using force on racial minorities. The loyalty usually protects this racism the officers have for each other, and most of the officers who get involved in such behavior have teammates who share similar traits of racism. Such culture causes ethical issues in the police department with no reports made and the offender that the police used force on having no one to collaborate his story if he forwards it to the police who have loyalty to their friends/college. Such incidences cause a rift between the police and the society, and with the problem being skin color, both sides lose, since there is mistrust between the two and no collaboration between the police and community.

The code of silence puts boundaries between the law enforcers and society and even between themselves when one party withholds too much information from the other (McCartney & Parent, 2015). This causes mistrust between the law enforcers and between them and society. This is a significant problem since the two sides need each other.

Ethical pluralism is based on the idea that there are many genuine human values, and they can’t all be reduced to a single overriding value or values. This is because human values can be conflicting depending on circumstances. This makes it inappropriate to treat other people the same since people have different conditions. Managing people the same is what absolutism stands for, and in with humans being different, it becomes difficult to treat everyone the same.

Pluralism is also based on the fact that values cannot be ranked in a stable hierarchy, and there is no single source of truth, such as the laws of nature or the will of God that can serve as an only guide in making choices or compromises (Cengage, 2019). With such a view, it does not necessarily mean that all values are equal or acceptable. For instance, killing people by a suicide bombing by ISIS is accepted by the group, but this does not mean it the same as other moral values that people hold in life. Also, there is a clear distinction between what is right and what is socially acceptable, a form of relativism.

Also, pluralism allows for a compromise between values to achieve a solution to a conflict. This is an advantage against absolutism, where the rules are the same and can’t be bent to achieve any outcome.

The structure of training that the police officers have does not allow them to develop their ethical and moral standards to their highest level. The use of a classroom setting where the instructor gives notes, and the recruits take notes while listening is not an ideal method of study. A study of ethical dilemmas that police face in the field requires a different approach in training. This can entail discussions and exchange of ideas, having the recruits express their opinions and the instructor giving them a new perspective on the same issue, and encourage frankness and openness (Reamer & Verdi, n.d.). This requires small group discussions and study methods. Also, the instructors need to have formal training in ethics and have in-depth knowledge or experience in law enforcement culture (Reamer & Verdi, n.d.). This is a rare combination to find that makes police training in such issues wanting.

The time that the police are undergoing training should include studying and discussing complex ethical issues that challenge their thinking and question their moral standing and choices. This is lacking in the training that the police have by the time they go to the field. It is also essential to have continuous education and training for the police officers, structured according to their position and work that they do daily (Reamer & Verdi, n.d.).

Personal Recommendations

The police department needs change for it to work efficiently and maintain law and order. One of my recommendations is to change the way recruits are picked and trained. For recruitment, those selected should have a higher level of analytical skills. This will help them develop the skills and knowledge they are trained on easier and in little time. The type of thinking that a police officer makes, sometimes in a split second, cannot be taught in the short duration that they undergo in their training. This requires the recruits to have developed some rational decisions before joining the academy.

The training itself should be focused on solving moral and ethical challenges that the police officers will and can encounter. They should have discussions on different scenarios of addressing such problems. The current situation where recruits listen to an instructor, make notes, memorize, and are tested on how much they have grasped is known to be ineffective. The training should also give other ways of using unnecessary force. This involves coming up with real-life scenarios and training them in such ways.

The administrators should also give support to their juniors in ethical issues. Respecting the public and showing fairness is highly rated among the police, but they cannot practice such social norms because their seniors don’t approve such behavior (Morin’, Parker, Stepler, and Mercer, 2017). This should change and allow the police to work in a more trustworthy and respectful environment with the public, even if it is not what some envision the police should act.

The police officers should also change their mindset on the public. The “us vs. them” and the “war with people we are sworn to protect” should stop (Kindy, 2015). This means collaboration with society. Besides, high crime areas should be assigned more officers and have their patrol cars available all the time.

Supervisor support

As a supervisor, I can encourage my juniors to change their team members if they feel that their colleagues are a negative influence. This will make them have less pressure when dealing with the said colleagues. in addition to this, being a supervisor, it is my job to know the character of my juniors: their behaviors, hobbies, weaknesses,  moral and ethical standing, their social life. This will help me pair my junior according to their character and avoid any harmful influence between them (CommunityPolicing.com staff, n.d.).

I can encourage my subordinates to form strong family values, with their partners and children. This helps them be grounded and have someone to lean on during hard times. With my subordinates having family and family values, they need time with their families, so I can structure their duties and time so that they can also have quality time at home. This requires teamwork, due to possible reassignment and giving them time off, with the other officers being on duty and interchanging them when necessary. Also, it is essential to give them psychological support, so they don’t get stressed and depressed by their work. Finally, I have the power to discipline any officer for violation of any rules, including ethical and moral character. This is after some warnings to stop anything that will jeopardize the moral standing of team members and their lives. If the officer doesn’t change, then I change the person to another supervisor, where the officer can turn to be transferred again. Any standards about moral and ethical behavior will be based on fundamental human values, which are simple and don’t need training. Any violations of such action, warrant a talk with the officer, and persistent violation warrants a transfer.

References

Cengage. (2019). Ethical Pluralism. Retrieved from https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ethical-pluralism

CommunityPolicing.com staff. (n.d.). Basic Police Supervisor Responsibilities. Retrieved from http://www.communitypolicing.com/basic-police-supervisor-responsibilities

Kindy, K. (2015). Creating guardians, calming warriors. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2015/12/10/new-style-of-police-training-aims-to-produce-guardians-not-warriors/

McCartney, S. & Parent, R. (2015). 8.1 Police Subculture.  Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/ethicsinlawenforcement/chapter/8-1-police-culture/

Morin’, R., Parker, K., Stepler, R., and mercer, A. (2017). 5. Reimagining the police through training and reforms. Accessed from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/01/11/reimagining-the-police-through-training-and-reforms/

Reamer, F.G. & Verdi, T.A. (n.d.). Teaching Ethics in the Training Academy: A State-of-the-Art Approach. Retrieved from https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/teaching-ethics-in-the-training-academy/