Development of ethical leaders in law enforcement organizations is an ongoing process that departments constantly must maintain and improve. Unethical behavior and corruption are detrimental to building community trust. Police require public favor to be effective and must cultivate this favor by exhibiting the highest ethical standards. 24
The question is whether organizations are doing enough to reinforce ethics training and reduce misconduct. Leaders set the pace and tone for department policy and ethical behavior. Properly trained and motivated leaders are an important factor for achieving high standards across the agency.
Officers should sign acknowledgement forms indicating they have read and comprehend the policies. Agencies should retain these for the duration of employees’ tenure. To ensure and motivate compliance with rules, regulations, and policies, law enforcement organizations must have strict guidelines and investigate all ethics complaints.
A fair and just method for conducting ethics investigations reaffirms the agency’s moral code. Leaders must assure the public that the agency will investigate and handle all complaints. At the same time, they must work to prevent unethical behavior by watching for warning signs.
A highly ethical person knows his or her values, principles and beliefs. Those values, principles and beliefs would then determine one's actions when faced with an ethical dilemma.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was an influential philosopher, economist, politician, and senior official in the East India Company. A controversial figure in 19th-century Britain, he advocated the use of classical economic theory, philosophical thought, and social awareness in political decision-making and legislation.
John Stuart Mill believed in the philosophy of utilitarianism, which he would describe as the principle that holds "that actions are right in the proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness".
philosopher Henry SidgwickEthical egoism was introduced by the philosopher Henry Sidgwick in his book The Methods of Ethics, written in 1874. Sidgwick compared egoism to the philosophy of utilitarianism, writing that whereas utilitarianism sought to maximize overall pleasure, egoism focused only on maximizing individual pleasure.
Kant's ethics are organized around the notion of a “categorical imperative,” which is a universal ethical principle stating that one should always respect the humanity in others, and that one should only act in accordance with rules that could hold for everyone.
Aristotle's ethics, or study of character, is built around the premise that people should achieve an excellent character (a virtuous character, "ethikē aretē" in Greek) as a pre-condition for attaining happiness or well-being (eudaimonia).
Bentham and Mill both believed that human actions are motivated entirely by pleasure and pain, and Mill saw that motivation as a basis for the argument that, since happiness is the sole end of human action, the promotion of happiness is the test by which to judge all human conduct.
What are the main differences between Bentham and Mill's utilitarianism and which theory is better? Both thought that the moral value of an act was determined by the pleasure it produced. Bentham considered only quantity of pleasure, but Mill considered both quantity and quality of pleasure.
Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher, economist, jurist, and legal reformer and the founder of modern utilitarianism, an ethical theory holding that actions are morally right if they tend to promote happiness or pleasure (and morally wrong if they tend to promote unhappiness or pain) among all those affected by them.
Rand's Ethical Theory: Rational Egoism A self-interested person, on the traditional view, will not consider the interests of others and so will slight or harm those interests in the pursuit of his own.
egoist. / (ˈiːɡəʊɪst, ˈɛɡ-) / noun. a person who is preoccupied with his own interests; a selfish person. a conceited person; egotist.
Ethical egoism is the normative theory that the promotion of one's own good is in accordance with morality. In the strong version, it is held that it is always moral to promote one's own good, and it is never moral not to promote it.
The work of those medical specialists who help premature babies to recover outside the womb is responsible and valued highly in the healthcare community. At the same time, the assessment of such activities may be based not only on the principles of professional ethics but also on human morality.
The objective physicians’ actions aimed at supporting the life of one of the twins can be interpreted from another standpoint that the Categorical Imperative offers. According to Donaldson (2017), Kant’s approach does not imply religious, ethnic, or other aspects that may affect a particular decision.
The use of Kant’s ethical theory in relation to the situation about supporting the life of a premature twin is an objective approach. The universality of this practice is a basic aspect of healthcare, and the inadmissibility of ignoring the problem is consistent with medical professionals’ moral practice.
The prevalence of ethics violations in an organization often is proportionate to the quality of its leadership. Law enforcement agencies must develop strong ethical leaders to reduce unethical behavior among officers. 5 These leaders must start and continue both positive and negative reinforcement to instill sound moral behavior throughout the organization.
Organizations can enable officers and supervisors to work together to develop the mission statement and core values. This builds cooperation , gives officers a voice , instills feelings of connection to the organization , and increases the desire to comply with these goals and values. Leaders should post and distribute—through business cards, flyers, and handouts—the mission statement and core values to reaffirm their importance.
Cadets receive ethics training in academies to reinforce the importance of high ethical behavior and its relationship to the profession. However, because police officers are human beings chosen from the public, leaders cannot expect total absence of corruption and unethical behavior.
The code of ethics adopted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) is a valuable guide for the prevention of unethical behavior. However, administrators’ efforts to control corruption by officers who believe they are serving the best interest of the public only begin with a code of ethics. 4 Other steps prove necessary to reduce these problems.
Organizations can be proactive by looking for signs of unethical behavior. By examining arrest reports, use-of-force reports, and resist and delay charges it is possible to show a pattern that may indicate a problem manifesting within an officer. Managers can coach that officer on ways to improve performance and achieve higher ethics. All supervisors, from the patrol sergeant up to the chief of police, should engage in coaching moments whenever the opportunity arises to inspire subordinates to achieve the highest level of success. 23
The mission statement sets the tone and forms the moral fiber of the organization. A clear mission statement that includes an ethics declaration can keep officers pointed in the right direction to achieve goals in an ethical manner. 8 Mission statements can include such wording as “to consistently serve the citizens with the highest level of integrity and professionalism” or “to reduce crime and improve the quality of life by working together with citizens while upholding high ethical standards.”
Leaders set the pace and tone for department policy and ethical behavior. Properly trained and motivated leaders are an important factor for achieving high standards across the agency. Individuals who strive to become police officers often have a natural tendency to serve and protect. They are motivated by a strong desire that causes them to run toward the gunfire instead of away from it. This desire and type of profile sometimes can lead to “means-end” corruption. 2
Being closer to recklessness would be the sweet spot or “mean,” rather than being in the middle, which might represent inaction. Similarly, in terms of organization to public communication, a communicative balance would be closer to open information and abundant communication, rather than limited information and no communication.
The basic principle of the golden mean, laid down by Aristotle 2,500 years ago is moderation, or striving for a balance between extremes.