Ethical dilemmas are complex situations in which one of two mutually exclusive moral norms must be selected. For police officers, this choice becomes even more difficult due to the need to maintain justice. However, studies show many professional ethics situations in which respondents’ opinions differ due to the complexity of choice (Westmarland & Conway, 2020). From my perspective, the most difficult moral dilemmas are related to the direct activities of the police and contacts with criminals.
Among them, I would especially like to highlight dilemmas raising the question: does the end justify the means used? For example, is it worth sacrificing lives to eliminate a criminal? Such dilemmas place a massive responsibility on police officers and decide the current situation and think about the prospects. Since I have no special training, it is difficult for me to choose, but I am leaning towards the safest option for everyone. My main argument favoring this decision is the likelihood of drawing up a more beneficial plan by people who see the big picture better.
The most common approach to this issue is the assignment of high ethical standards to professionals who bear any responsibility to society. Recently, this trend has gone so far that a cancellation culture comes into play at the slightest deviation, breaking a person’s life. Because of the frequent drifting to extremes, I believe that the private lives of criminal justice professionals should remain private. The primary evaluative factor here should be the correspondence of their physical and psychological state to their professional activities. If a person has constant problems with alcohol, this will negatively affect their professional activities. Decreased performance, in turn, is the reason for the proceedings with this employee.
However, it is necessary to distinguish between personal and professional activities of people to avoid persecution by society for misconduct that is not related to work. A judge who has a strained relationship with their legal partner will not perform their duties worse by default. To evaluate this, such professionals should be subject to constant psychological and physical monitoring, observing the degree of their suitability for work. However, the reasons for an employee’s performance decline should remain private. Otherwise, a person’s profession will replace and select their personality. Attitude towards a particular person will then be built only based on their profession and not personal qualities, which, from my perspective, is fundamentally wrong.
Reference
Westmarland, L., & Conway, S. (2020). Police ethics and integrity: Keeping the ‘blue code’of silence. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 22(4), 378-392. Web.