Instructions

Scenario:

As an intern with the Sunstate County Sheriff’s Office, you are assigned to patrol with Senior Officer Miller. You are patrolling the Pine Manor area, home to minorities and illegal immigrants. Recently, officers of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began to investigate crimes involving illegal immigrants in the Pine Manor area. 

While driving on Main Street, Officer Miller recognizes a Hispanic male walking on the pedestrian walkway. He stops the patrol vehicle and talks to the man: “Hi Juan, haven’t you forgotten to make your payment this week? Remember Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are in the area.” The Hispanic man takes several hundred dollar bills out of his wallet and hands the money to Officer Miller. 

You ask Officer Miller about the purpose of the payment. Officer Miller states, “It is an agreement. Either the illegal immigrants pay me, or I will notify ICE about his whereabouts”. 

You continue to patrol the neighborhood and Officer Miller stops another Hispanic male walking on the street. He also asks him about his weekly payment. Jose responds that he does not have any money and he had sent this week’s paycheck to Mexico for his family. Officer Miller exits the vehicle and arrests Jose Martinez. 

On the transport to the jail, Jose asks for the charges and Officer Miller stated that he will be arrested for possession of marijuana. Jose answered, “I do not possess or use drugs.” Officer Miller grabs an evidence bag with green leafy substance from underneath the driver’s seat and shows it to Jose, “Here is the evidence.” 

Officer Miller arrives at the jail, and then books Jose Martinez for the false charges. 

Assess the scenario, and then answer the following questions: 

• What is your ethical obligation in this scenario? Expand on the major theory surrounding ethical behavior of police officers, and then offer some alternatives to this behavior in your discussion.  
•  What theory of ethics did Officer Miller violate?
•  Describe how the deontologist, the teleologist, and the  utilitarianist would decide.
• Determine if Officer Miller is considered a meat eater or a grass eater. 

Length: 3-5 pages 

References: Include a minimum of five scholarly resources. 

Introduction

Ethics and moral character in policing are two of the most highly sought-after traits for those coming into law enforcement. Ethical behavior is a must for officers to gain the communities’ trust that they are working on completing their jobs regularly. Also, ethical behavior attributes to the officer’s discretion while completing their duties daily. So, when an officer uses their discretion to break the law, that causes loss of trust within the community and gives the police department a bad reputation.

In Officer Miller’s case, he disregarded morality and morality. He disregarded the oath to uphold the law through bribery, extorting another person, and forging someone’s crime to cover up the crime. To cover up the problem of lies and to do so in front of myself, the intern creates a cycle of dishonesty and suspicion for the criminal justice system.

Ethical Behavior of Police Officers

Has a witness and intern to Officer Miller’s situation, it is my obligation to disclose the truth about what happened when I rode with Officer Miller and the case against Jose. Including the bribery to not inform ICE of their whereabouts, the use of illegal detainment to extort money people, and falsifying evidence and crimes against Jose because he did not have the bribery payment for Officer Miller. Also, I need to make sure that the false allegations against Jose Martinez are not dropped because Officer Miller tried to blackmail him and abused his power as a legal official.

This behavior is not acceptable because of the job but that it violated another person’s rights. Instead of making quick money, Officer Miller could have just informed them that ICE was in town. Officer Miller could have stated that he would not say anything to ICE unless asked for information. Overall, Officer Miller could have just stayed honest and correct to the oath taken when he became an officer of the law. In his conduct Officer, Miller caused, possibly, irreparable damage to not only himself but the department’s reputation and trust with the community.

Violation of Theory of Ethics

A career in law enforcement is widely considered to be formed with countless ethical and moral complications that create circumstances with various “grey” areas. Police officers are very few careers with very little supervision but still have a significant prowess with their decisions. Law enforcement is put in charge to keep society in control, thus giving them the power to decide what influences others in their lives. With this type of power, there is always the potential to “let it go to your head” and begin abusing it. This behavior is what puts the integrity of the officer and the department in question. This behavior leads researchers to investigate the range of law enforcement capacity must avoid the enticements of abusing these power of authority (Hickman, Powell, Piquero, & Greene 2016).

“Deontological theories emphasize the importance of the motivation behind the behavior that follows the result. Therefore, moral behavior is driven by responsibility rather than the reward” (Baumane-Vitolina, Calsa and & Sumilo, 2015, p. 110). Officer Miller’s behavior was caused by personal gain and not driven because of duty to serve the public in this manner. “Deontological concepts as rights, duties, equality, and norms have been widely analyzed in political economics, institutional economics, socio-economics, and ecological economics. It is mostly accepted that rights and regulations influence economic behavior by restricting individual choice. Such restriction is required to ensure the freedom of other participants of economic relationships. Usually, it is analyzed in the context of free trade-anti-dumping laws. Monopolistic, restrictive trade practices-these are examples of moral ethics, universal ethics advocated by the law” (Baumane-Vitolina, Calsa, and Sumilo, 2015, P. 111).

Different Viewpoint of Decisions

Deontologist viewpoint would be based on the rules and regulation of the corruption that took place by Officer Miller. Officer Miller would be in direct violation of the rules and regulations set by the code of ethics and would subject to reprimand from the department. Theologist would deem this as corruption because neither Juan nor Jose was a victim of a crime. However, Officer Miller exploited them for personal gain. Utilitarianists would decide by rationalizing the actions are not condoned. The planting of the evidence removes the fundamental human rights, the notion of justice and fairness from Jose, in this case, causing the other action to be unethical and immoral.

Meat or Grass Eater

Officer Miller would be the definition of a meat-eater. He was not collecting gratuities or solicited a small number of payments. Officer Miller was aggressively looking for a situation to exploit victims for financial gain. Officer Miller chose illegal immigrants for exploitation, blackmail, and blackmail because he believed that he could rationalize and treat them in an immoral way because of his citizenship.

Conclusion

Ethics is one of the essential parts of a law enforcement officer’s job and duties to uphold. Even if a person breaks the law, they still have fundamental human rights that officers need to give due process. No officer should engage in unethical activities, especially with the intent to take advantage of another person that they have sworn to protect. Officer Miller failed at his duties as a law enforcement officer and as a person taking advantage of another situation. In Michigan, Officer Miller’s actions will result in multiple charges, including felony charges of bribery, two extortions and deliberate negligence, a total fine of $6,000, and a sentence of 11 years in prison (Michigan, 2019).

References

Baumane-Vitolina, I., Cals, I., & Sumilo, E. (2016). Is ethics rational? Teleological, deontological, and virtue ethics theories are reconciled in the context of traditional economic decision-making. Procedia Economics and Finance, 39, 108-114.

Donahue, M. E., & Felts, A. A. (1993). Police ethics: A critical perspective. Journal of criminal justice, 21(4), 339-352.

Ex-Lake sheriff Buncich gets 15 years in prison. (2018). Indiana Lawyer, 28(24), 15–18. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy1.ncu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=127635423&site=eds-live

Hickman, M. J., Powell, Z. A., Piquero, A. R., & Greene, J. (2016). Exploring the viability of attitudes toward ethical behavior scale in understanding police integrity outcomes. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management.

Jetelina, K. K., Jennings, W. G., Bishopp, S. A., Piquero, A. R., & Reingle Gonzalez, J. M. (2017). Dissecting the complexities of the relationship between police officer–civilian race/ethnicity dyads and less-than-lethal use of force. American journal of public health, 107(7), 1164-1170.

State of Michigan. (2019). Michigan Legislature. Retrieved from http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(bfglzrfss2drlnkl34fsscoj)/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=mcl-750-117, 118, 214, & 478

Swenson, P. (2016). Subjective deontology and the duty to gather information. Ethics, 127(1), 257-271.

Analyze the Abuse of Discretion and Ethical Behavior Causing Police Misconduct

1

Introduction

Ethics and moral character in policing
are

two of the most highly sought
–
after traits for
those coming into law enforcement. Ethical behavior is a must for officers to gain the
communities’ trust

that they are working
on completing

their jobs
regularly
.
Also
, ethical
behavior attributes to the
off
icer
‘
s

discretion

while completing their duties
daily
. So, when an
officer uses their discretion to break the law, that causes loss of trust within the community and
gives the police department
a

bad reputation.

In
Officer Miller’s case, he disregarded mor
ality and morality. He

disregarded the oath to
uphold the law through bribery, extorting another person
,

and forging someone’s crime to cover
up the crime.
T
o cover up the problem of lies

and to do so in front of myself
,

the intern
creates

a
cycle of disho
nesty and suspicion for the criminal justice system.

Ethical Behavior of Police Officers

Has a witness and intern to
Officer Miller’s situation,

it is my obligation to disclose the
truth about what happened when I rode with Officer Miller and the case agai
nst Jose
. Including
the bribery to not inform ICE of their whereabouts, the use of illegal detainment to extort money
people, and falsifying evidence and crimes against Jose because he did not have the bribery
payment for Officer Miller.

Also
, I need to ma
ke sure that the false allegations against Jose
Martinez are not dropped

b
ecause Officer Miller tried to blackmail him and abused his power as
a legal official.

This behavior is not acceptable because of the
job but that it violated another person
‘
s
rights. Instead of
making

quick money
, O
fficer Miller could have just informed them that ICE
was in town. Officer Miller could have stated that he would not say anything to ICE unless asked
for information.
Overall
,

Officer Miller could have just stayed
honest and
correct

to the oath
Analyze the Abuse of Discretion and Ethical Behavior Causing Police Misconduct 1

Introduction
Ethics and moral character in policing are two of the most highly sought-after traits for
those coming into law enforcement. Ethical behavior is a must for officers to gain the
communities’ trust that they are working on completing their jobs regularly. Also, ethical
behavior attributes to the officer’s discretion while completing their duties daily. So, when an
officer uses their discretion to break the law, that causes loss of trust within the community and
gives the police department a bad reputation.
In Officer Miller’s case, he disregarded morality and morality. He disregarded the oath to
uphold the law through bribery, extorting another person, and forging someone’s crime to cover
up the crime. To cover up the problem of lies and to do so in front of myself, the intern creates a
cycle of dishonesty and suspicion for the criminal justice system.
Ethical Behavior of Police Officers
Has a witness and intern to Officer Miller’s situation, it is my obligation to disclose the
truth about what happened when I rode with Officer Miller and the case against Jose. Including
the bribery to not inform ICE of their whereabouts, the use of illegal detainment to extort money
people, and falsifying evidence and crimes against Jose because he did not have the bribery
payment for Officer Miller. Also, I need to make sure that the false allegations against Jose
Martinez are not dropped because Officer Miller tried to blackmail him and abused his power as
a legal official.
This behavior is not acceptable because of the job but that it violated another person’s
rights. Instead of making quick money, Officer Miller could have just informed them that ICE
was in town. Officer Miller could have stated that he would not say anything to ICE unless asked
for information. Overall, Officer Miller could have just stayed honest and correct to the oath