Unethical conduct and its Contribution

What contributes to unethical conduct?
Introduction
Clark was the victim of a gunshot that hit him while at the backyard of his grandparents’ house. The event took place on the 18th of March. According to information from the Sacramento police the responsible officers were answering an emergency 911 call with information that a man had broken the window to a car in the area. The shooting and subsequent death of Clark is just one in a series of police shootings targeted at black men in recent times. The fatal force data suggests that 264 individuals have suffered the same fate as Clark since 2018 in the hands of police officers (Washington Post’s, 2018). Of the 264 fatalities, 57 of them were revealed to be black from the news reports. According to research there are evident racial disparities advanced by the police department in their use of force. Although most of these cases are associated with systemic bias and explicit bias, research studies conducted recently have identified the existence of specific factors such as high segregation in housing and inequalities in the economy as important factors in police shootings, where they occur and whom they affect (Lockhart, 2018).
Ethical analysis
From the ethics code of law enforcement, an enforcement officer has a primary duty of serving mankind, protecting their property and their lives, and to safeguard innocent people against deception. Enforcement officers are also charged with maintaining peace and thwarting instances of disorder or violence. Every enforcement officer must protect constitutional rights of justice, equality and liberty of all citizens. For the Clark’s case the police shooting ignored and broke his constitutional rights.
Following the shooting the explanation given is that a police helicopter used to direct officers towards the suspect led them to Clark. Clark reacted by running for his house following a confrontation from the officers. Further, the police stated that Clark started running while his arms appeared to be holding some object (Lockhart, 2018). A different perspective from body camera video released by the police reveals that Clark was running away from officers who never identified themselves as police. Ethical concerns emerging from this issue is the truthfulness from the police against any attempt to cover up a fellow officer. Initial statements seemed to cover the mess that the police had indeed killed an innocent black man.
Secondly, body camera evidence show that police fired on suspicion that Clark was holding a gun hitting him eight times from 20 rounds of ammunition. The police then waited for backup prior to handcuffing Clark and before initiating any medical procedure. Clark was found out to be holding a cellphone and not a gun (Lockhart, 2018). After inspection of the body and the revelation that there was no gun police officers turned off their microphones and subsequently gave misleading information to the media.
Clark’s shooting is a typical example of the injustices that necessitate thorough ethical examination. According to the written law and officer is only allowed to use force when they have reason to believe such force is required for their own protection and prevention of bodily harm or imminent death to other people or to themselves. Police have moral justification to apply lethal force partly because of their obligations and moral rights more so for personal defense and the need to defend innocent people. Use of lethal force is however limited to specific situation. A police officer must be able to have accurate judgment.
Conclusion
The moral and ethical decision is a substantial part of what a police officer does. An officer is likely to have to make snap decisions of this nature in many instances throughout their life in duty. A wrong decision can break an officer’s and weaken their ethical values. Clark’s shooting is another of the many numbers of innocent black men killed by law enforcement officers. This case has fueled the view that the approach of police officers towards black men is discriminatory therefore compromising their moral and ethical duty to protect life.

References
Barker, T. (2011). Police ethics: Crisis in law enforcement. Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Lockhart, P.R. (Updated Mar 30, 2018). Police shot and killed an unarmed black man in his own backyard. All he was holding was a cellphone. Vox. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/21/17149092/stephon-clark-police-shooting-sacramento on 19 September 2018
The Washington Post, (last updated 2018, Aug. 30). Fatal Force. Accessed from https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/police-shootings-2018/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fdc0245259d6 on 18 September 2018