Police officers and free meals: an ethical dilemma

Ethical Dilemma: Confronting Unjust Authority Case Study

Ethical dilemma

An ethical dilemma denotes a case in where one experiences a mental conflict whereby ethical obligations conflict in a way that any resolution is ethically intolerable. This implies that all the available options cannot be determined by guiding moral principles. An example is a situation whereby one has to decide between not to steal and to provide for a family that you cannot be able to provide for without stolen money (Garber, 2008). In such a case, stealing might be considered to be wrong by one person because of the fact that this person is using a wrong way to provide for his family. Conversely, someone else might consider it differently since this man has a family which is looking up to him for food.

Situation

In the case of situation one in Pollack's book, police officers have developed a routine of going to the restaurant on the corner. This is a place whereby they have their meals during their patrols (Harding, 2010). None of them ever pays for meals and therefore making this restaurant their favorite meal point. Moreover, the restaurant does not also request for payment from these officers. Officers tend to order for food that could cost them a lot if at all they were going to pay.

The restaurant owner has also encouraged these officers to visit his restaurant because he does not request for any payment from the police officers (Garber, 2008). The officers too have made an assumption that their presence at the restaurant is highly welcomed. They have also not been limited to the kind of food they can order and thus the wide variety of food they can order for.

It is also uncertain whether the owner would accept to take money from the new officer. This complicates the situation more since no officer usually pays and how the new officer will be viewed if at all he is going to offer any payment to the owner. The owner of the business is obviously in business to make profits and to sustain his investment (Harding, 2010). He spends money on all the inputs to his business and would therefore expect to earn returns from his expenditure.

With these facts in mind, it would be considered that the police officers should pay for the food offered to them even with the fact that they are allowed to eat for free. Even if meals are cheap enough for them to be offered freely, the officers are supposed to pay for them.

Comparisons

According to the moral code, the officers are supposed to pay for the services given to them. This would mean that they are appreciating whatever services the restaurant provides. Although the owner seems to have no issues with the officers no having free meals in his restaurant, he might be wondering why would they not pay for the food at times (Steinberg & Austern, 1990). Paying for the meals would mean that as much as their presence at the restaurant is welcomed, they are ethical enough not to exploit the owner of the business.

If the officers decide not to offer anything in return, they would be viewed as unthankful. How one would order for meals frequently and would not even opt to pay for them. Morals require that one should be grateful and conduct themselves in line with the expectations of the society (Pollock, 2012). The officers might be forced at one point to pay for the orders they make at the restaurant if moral action was to be taken against the officers.

Suppose Legal action was to be taken against the officers, none of them would be found guilty though because the owner was not forced into giving free meals to the officers. It is also claimed that their presence around the restaurant is encouraged by the owner (Steinberg & Austern, 1990). The officers too seem to be so used to the restaurant. The fact that they can order for anything shows that the owner and the officers are well-known to each other.

Different Professions have their own code of conduct and each of the employees is expected to work within the set code of conduct (Pollock, 2012). These officers are not limited to entering restaurants to have meals neither are they told on how or which meals they should order. No action would be taken against them as no charges can be pressed against them.

Unjust element

The police officers tend to take advantage of the restaurant. They use the fact that they are police officers to obtain free meals from the restaurant. There is no restaurant that would frequently offer its customers free meals (Pollock, 2012). It is only through their authority that the police officers are able to get free meals at the restaurant.

The dilemma cannot be resolved by the Pollack book as no code of conduct that is off provided by the author. The book only presents the dilemma to the reader and it is up to the audience to decide on their own the best solution to the dilemma.