Introduction
Police officers are faced with ethical dilemmas in their day to day activities. According to Bronitt and Stenning (2011), it is normal for ethical conflicts to come up when actions of one person interfere with the interests of the other person or community. Therefore, in the course of duty, officers are faced with situations that present an ethical dilemma. Their profession requires them to act impartially and ensure that they are not compromised. Besides, they should make justifiable judgments based on discretion. The following is an ethical situation that involved a traffic police officer.
Situation
In the course of duty, a traffic police officer stopped a woman and realized that she had an outstanding traffic warrant which she had not honored. The woman was with her two children, one being an infant while the other one was six years. The woman did not interfere with the police inspection; she accepted that she had not honored the warrants.
Ethical Issues
The situation raises ethical issues that relate to enforcing a legal process of arresting the woman and a social situation of the two young children. Thus, the officer is torn between enforcing the law by adhering to legal requirements to arrest the woman or to advise her to go and take care of the outstanding traffic warrants.
Choices
The police officer had the choice to take the children to a juvenile center home and arrange for a person to take care of the baby and then take the woman to jail as she awaits court sentencing. The officer could also let the woman go and put in place measures to ensure that she presents herself to court. For example, note her residential details to follow up and determine if she honored the warrants. In this context, the police officer considered letting the lady go but promised to follow up to find whether she complied.
Reasoning
In relation to enforcement of legal processes, Pollock and Becker (n.d.) state “what is good is pure in motive” (p. 3). Therefore, the police may be expected to resolve such a situation in discretion that leaves unblemished motive irrespective of the consequences. However, the code of ethics requires the police to protect and serve the public impartially. In such a situation, the officer decided to apply ethics of care which shifts the balance from “what is right” to “how to respond”. Therefore, the ethics of care come to play in the judgment. Pollock and Becker (n.d.) noted that ethics of care is founded on natural human response to ensure that the needs of the children, the sick and the vulnerable are catered for. The reasoning the police applied was to use ethics of care bearing in mind the arrest of the woman could negatively affect the children.
Effects of the Choices on the Individuals
The choice ensured that the police officer cared for the children. It gave the woman another chance to honor the warrants. However, the police did set measures to follow up the case and ensure legal process in case the woman defied the advice.
The choice I would have made
In such a context, I would have acted just as the traffic police. The reasoning behind the choice is the recognition of the ethics of care and the legal issues. Hence, the choice to strike a balance to ensure compliance of the two situations i.e. care for the vulnerable children and put in place measures to follow up the woman and ensure she presents herself in a court.
References
Bronitt, S. H., & Stenning, P. (2011). Understanding discretion in modern policing. Criminal Law Journal, 35(6), 319-332.
Pollock, J., & Becker, R. (n.d.). Ethics training: Using officers’ dilemmas. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.