Ethical Issues In Law Enforcement

Being an ethical person is not a hard thing to do if you abide by your morals and values that make you a good person. However, being a law enforcement officer demands that your ethical standard is much higher than the average citizen because you are expected to follow the law and protect citizens. There are probably other professions out there that require a person to be just a dedicated, held accountable, to be without bias and to always do the right thing. But the expectations that are placed on law enforcement is that much more in demand, as it should be. Those who are law enforcement today are pretty much placed in a fish bowl, and their behavior and actions are watched by all. To live by high moral standards and to value ethics in that …show more content…
However, that does not mean that all law enforcement officers are corrupt or bad. It means that there are officers out there that are confronted with an ethical dilemma and for whatever reason they have, they choose to participate in unethical behavior. In addition, some in the group do want to know what is going on with their local police and would like to know if the police officers in their area are doing the right thing. That being said, if the community does not support and respect the law or the officers protecting them, then tension, mistrust and attitudes come in to play when officers try to interact with their community. When this type of behavior and mistrust of the police happen, it can be very stressful for them and make their job so much harder and …show more content…
Law enforcement officers in the public eye and their every move is watched and judge, but we need to remember that they are human, they can have temporary lapses in judgement and can become stressed out. Most police officers set high standards for themselves and stay true to their values and ethics but are very apprehensive to confront another officers bad behavior-they do not want to violate that code. At the end of the day, they do not want to be a whistleblower but if they turn a blind eye to behavior, they are just as guilty as the other. In addition, that allows that behavior to spread or the officer to not be held accountable, which can ultimately foster a bad environment in the department and

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