Police Ehtics

Police Ethics

Description

Ethics is a delicate topic in the context of policing, as police officers are often coming across situations when they need to act on account of their instinct rather than on ethical thinking. Individuals are subjected to a continuous amount of stress during their jobs as police officers and they thus have to be able to put across the best performance possible on a constant basis. Even with this, one needs to understand that police officers are only human and that in spite of their struggle to put across exemplary behavior they are sometimes likely to act in disagreement with generally accepted legislations. It is only safe to say that law enforcement is seeing a crisis as it is becoming increasingly difficult for officers to focus on ethics in the diverse environment in the present. While the fact that cameras are very common today means that police officers feel less inclined to act unethically, by installing miniature cameras on each and every police officer things are likely to improve in the future.

Background and rationale

The fact that police officer misconduct has become more common during recent years can be largely owed to cheap digital video flooding the market. Secrecy was previously the key to preventing police officers from behaving unethically. However, as more and more individuals came to have access to cheap digital video recording devices incidents started to happen with a larger prevalence. "Every week, it seems, video taken by citizens using a handheld camera, smartphone, or some other device goes "viral" online, flooding the internet with examples of police brutality or some other form of misbehavior." (Gaines, 151)

It seems perfectly normal for policemen today to assume that almost every action they perform is being recorded. Even with this, some seem to be unwilling to act in accordance with ethical values as long as they are not certain that someone is recording them. "One of the traditional explanations for police unethical behavior has been that police-citizen confrontational encounters occur alone and unobserved -- under a cloud of secrecy." (Barker, 2011, p. 3) Videos have demonstrated that police officers have lied and have arrested individuals on false accusations in a series of cases.

A Rialto police department has conducted an experiment involving police officers using miniature cameras in order to document their experiences. "The experiment was designed to find out if police wearing video cameras would reduce use of force in police encounters and also reduce citizen complaints"(Steinberg, 2013) The experiment generated results showing that individuals without cameras were twice more likely to go through episodes involving use-of-force in comparison to individuals who wore cameras.

Taking into account the Rialto experiment, one can observe a direct relationship between ethical behavior and the thought that someone is watching each and every more one makes. In order for police officers to be able to constrain their emotions when they are under a lot of stress, they need to know that they have to be calculated about what they do. The fact that they know that the slightest display of unethical behavior can cause a lot of trouble is essential in making them hesitant about using force.

The fact that police officers today come across trouble with a significant prevalence means that it would be essential for a monitoring system to save both them and individuals who would be the victims of unethical policing. Wearing a camera results in a scenario where "frivolous lawsuits will be reduced, with the potential to save cities from significant investigative and legal expenses." (Steinberg)

Objectives of the project

In addition to making officers hesitant about using force or behaving unethically, miniature cameras strapped to their chests are also probable to provide information that can later be taught in police academies. Students can become better acquainted with difficult situations and with how they need to react under certain circumstances. Simply imagining a scenario in which academy students and police officers in general would have access to a database with a complex set of happenings that would make it easier for them to understand what the best solution to some problems would be is especially impressive.

Miniature cameras mounted on police officers would also be effective in the case of individuals who lie about their experience with police officers. Ethical behavior goes both ways when one is a police officer and law enforcement agents have to deal with numerous persons who claim that they have been abused or that they have not actually committed a crime they are accused of. By carrying miniature cameras, police officers can also discourage individuals who would be inclined to lie about the circumstances of their experience with law enforcement agents. These people would practically acknowledge that there is nothing left to do but to cooperate and would thus make it less problematic for the law to do its job.

Methods

The Rialto police department experiment way key in making society understand that miniature cameras placed on uniforms can make the difference between a police officer who is likely to use force as a means to achieve his or her goals and one who finds other ways to do so. Surely, this is only meant to address situations when use of force is not absolutely necessary.

By investing a significant amount of resources in miniature cameras, law enforcement agencies are likely to avoid paying a lot of money on trials and on cases that go to court on account of the fact that a police officer was caught behaving unethically. The simple fact that he or she knows that he or she is wearing a camera and everything he or she does is recorded can influence a police officer to carefully analyze his or her options in order to avoid coming across an ethical issue.