Since the police are supposed to embody justice, the use of unethical conduct by its members can only be justified by dire circumstances and the necessity to save a person’s life or prevent harm to innocent people. However, the excuses used by the police typically include the denial of the victim, i.e., in the case of a drug addict; the denial of injury (i.e., since there was no actual physical harm done, unethical behavior can be justified), etc. (Fitch 25).
Although the excuses mentioned above might seem rational, they can easily be bent to justify police violence as a phenomenon. Therefore, the threat of the legal forces using violence to retrieve any information from any citizen under the pretext of the greater good or the absence of a victim may increase. Furthermore, the statement regarding the absence of a victim in the drug abuse scenario does not make sense whatsoever since drug addicts must be viewed as such (Wallace 109). For these reasons, the laws controlling the drug issue must serve as the tools for rehabilitating drug addicts rather than making them serve time. In other words, stretching the concept of the acceptable use of force, the excuses made by the police must not be viewed as legitimate.
Works Cited
Fitch, Brian D. “Understanding the Psychology of Police Misconduct.” The Police Chief 78 (2011): 24-27. Print.
Wallace, Barbara C. “Evolution in Community-Based Addiction Treatment Driven by the Crack Epidemic: A Professional Time-Line of Psychological Work in the Trenches of the War on Drugs.” The Journal of Equity in Health 3.1 (2014): 96-116. Print.