The Impact of Ethics in Policing - Assignment Example

Police do not only take an oath of protecting the nation but are also expected to adhere to the highest standards of ethics and respect the laws they enforce upon others. Proper ethical training helps the police recognize ethical dilemmas, identify solutions, select the most appropriate solution from among a range of options, take prompt action, and take responsibility for the consequences.

There are certain strategies that police leaders can adopt to instill ethics in the organization. (Zuidema and Duff) highlight some of them; The police leaders should make ethical behavior a necessary part of the organization’s mission and values. These values include but are not limited to leadership, dedication, and professionalism. This way, it becomes more convenient for the employees of the police department to recall the terms since they are part of the organization’s initials.

The best way to achieve this effect is to display the values of ethical behavior for the officers and the community members on the brochures, websites, and cars used by the organizational personnel. Police leaders should emphasize ethical behavior in such organizational events as meetings and sessions of training and skill development. Inviting the sworn officers of law enforcement at all public ceremonies held by the organization to recite the oath of honor can be a potential way to achieve this.

Police departments can also emphasize ethical behavior in the philosophy of their organization. For example, the officers may be granted the power to solve problems individually and make the required decisions in mutual consensus with the citizens. If the officers are granted this right, this would not only make them more particular about the ethical concerns and implications of their decisions and actions, but would also make them more responsible in general, but this requires increased acceptability of the leaders towards the bad decisions and errors made by the officers in the process of their learning. Doing mistakes is part of learning which is required to achieve excellence.