Terrorism, Stigmas and Police Ethics

Running head: TERRORISM, STIGMAS AND POLICE ETHICS 1

Terrorism, Stigmas and Police Ethics

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TERRORISM, STIGMAS AND POLICE ETHICS 2

Terrorism, Stigmas and Police Ethics

Identify and describe ways that terrorism has impacted the police mission in the

U.S? The events on September 11 declared to the whole world about the seriousness of

the terrorist threats. It added new responsibilities among all departments of law

enforcement. New homeland security obligations for police included: coordinating

security at the state level; collecting, sharing and analyzing suspicious data; protecting

key assets and vital infrastructure; securing the sea, air ports and all nations borders;

cooperating with federal and local homeland securities; new tactics and systems training,

studying modern high-technology equipments (Lashley, 1995).

Describe disagreements that exist regarding the appropriate law enforcement

behavior to fight terrorism and maintain personal liberties? Some of the methods that

are used in the US prison are coercive and undermining. The prisoners are suspected of

terrorism relating crimes are unfair treated with violating their civil and human rights.

The other disagreement is about the period of time required for suspects to be put into a

trial where their guilt or innocence could be determined. The suspects have been

sometimes waiting for years before their trial.

What role does social stigma play in police ethics? Social stigma depends on the

relationship between countries. Difference in ethnicities or creeds also has an impact on

the public opinion in relation to strangers. Law enforcement officers are susceptible to

common public opinion, so they demonstrate the same prejudice and unfair attitude.

Especially, after September 11, there is suspicion and vigilance towards people of other

ethnicity; members of other religions are being harassed indiscriminately.


Are the ethical forces behind police corruption the same as those involved in police

abuses of force? Police officers swore to observe and follow The Law Enforcement

Code of Ethics. Therefore, any violation of the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics is a law

violation. Any misconduct of the authorized officer is both violation of the law and

unethical act. The man, who considers that he entitled to use force, can also decide that

he entitled to abuse power. Therefore, police corruption and abuse of force is the same.

Identify 4 components of police corruption within the criminal justice field, and

describe the strategies used to control this corruption. The components of police

corruption can be following: External Corruption (bribe or shakedown), Protection of

Illegal Activity, Theft at Opportunity (for example, a narcotics department discovers

money and drugs, and police officer misappropriates some of them), Internal Corruption

(illegal agreements within a police department) (Ford, 2000).

Controlling police misconduct has two main tasks: to prevent misconduct from

happening and to eliminate if misconduct took place. External and internal are two

general approaches of police misconduct control. External approaches involve other

agencies, so they include: organizing special investigations and watchdog committees;

using the mass media to disclose corruption; rising citizen involvement, improving the

political environment. Internal approaches include: reinforcing the police leadership;

creating appropriate policies and procedures; improving on administrative control;

expending internal affairs division (Crank, 2010).

Discuss individual conscience and police assignments using specific examples. How

can training prepare would be police officers for the ethical dilemmas they will

face? Individual conscience is the indicator of individual responsibility. However, one


concept of one persons responsibility may be different from anothers. Individual

conscience can be a protection from unreasonable orders and attitude, but can be a

consequence of superfluous kindness, loyalty or naivety. There are examples when

individual conscience saved lives and reputation. However, there are examples when

insubordination caused injuries, losses or, even, casualties. The ethical training can help

the police officers to distinguish correctly right thing to do from wrong thing to do.

Training allows applying the ethical knowledge in a lifelike scenario and discuss

consequences. Everyone benefits from integrity and ethics training in the law

enforcement departments. Police officers should be prepared to respond and react

appropriately in real life situations (Delattre, 2006).


References

Delattre E. J. (2006). Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing. (6th Edition). American

Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

Ford J. K., Davies M., Carter W. P. (2000). Government Ethics and Law Enforcement:

toward Global Guidelines. Praeger Publisher. Westport, CT.

Lashley R. D. (1995). Policework: The Need for a Noble Character. Praeger Publisher.

Westport, CT.

Crank J. P., Caldero M. A. (2010). Police Ethics: The Corruption of Noble Cause. (3rd

Edition). Anderson Publishing.

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Terrorism, Stigmas and Police Ethics