Ethics Paper Week 2

Ethics in Criminal Justice

Brandy Shaw

Ethical Violations Paper Week 2

CJS/211

May 13, 2017

Sharon Taylor

Ethics Violations Paper Week 2

        Ethical violations among police officers are becoming a widely talked about topic in the media and the public over the past few years.  Violations including excessive use of force, misconduct while off duty and corrupt police investigations or procedures are all considered unethical practices. Describing an unethical police officer involved incident, the role and value of ethics, consequences, group collaboration key points and what type of training should be in place will all be discussed in this paper.  Officers have the task of making critical decisions during incidents that can be difficult to make. Unethical practices in law enforcement have come to light in recent years mostly because of video evidence we have not that wasn’t available years ago. Police officers wear body cameras and the citizens have cameras available at the touch of a button. This can help to investigate if the officer did violate ethical code and help to get a conclusion and a consequence established.

        An example of unethical behavior is the excessive use of force towards a suspect. In Ft. Collins Colorado on April 6, 2017 a young woman was slammed to the ground by Sgt. Dean Cunningham during an investigation. The police were trying to get information about an altercation between the woman’s boyfriend and another man at a bar called Barstool Sports, when the woman became angry and loud. A bystander started to tape this confrontation and it showed the woman heavily intoxicated screaming at the police. This was a very petite woman that was 22 years old getting into the officer’s face. You then see Sgt. Cunningham turn her around by the arm and throw her to the ground. This was an ethical violation to any citizen’s eyes because of how small she was compared to him regardless of what she did. He could have easily turned her around and handcuffed her without the violence involved. The role ethics plays into policing is vital to the safety and trust among officer’s and citizens. When citizen’s trust that the police are going to use ethical and lawful practices they build a trustworthy relationship among communities. When people are seeing excessive use of force like the one mentioned it can cause mistrust and fear to the public and create more conflict.