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Ethics And Integrity In Law Enforcement Essay

1178 Words5 Pages

One of the biggest concerns in law enforcement is maintaining professional conduct with ethics and integrity. When individuals become a part of law enforcement, ethics, integrity, and professionalism is presented in the academy. Whether that be the police academy or the probation department academy or any other department, these standards are highly embedded in the department and are expected to be enforced. Complying with these standards allows a safe environment for employees, personnel, and the community. Unfortunately, these standards are not always enforced by all government employees which then exposes departments to appear inadequate. “Law enforcement corruption can take on various forms including classic corruption (where officers misuse their position for personal gain); process corruption (where police may tamper with evidence); excessive force; general unprofessional conduct; internal corruption, including discrimination or favoritism; and unprofessional conduct when off duty” (Cawthray, Prenzler, & Porter, 2013). Once these negative incidents are reported by the media, …show more content…

The objective of law enforcement agencies is to obtain the communities’ trust in conjunction to providing protection to all civilians. “Failing to include disciplinary sanctions within a code can leave it open to being ignored, with law enforcement officials viewing it as empty platitudes espoused by their agency’s management” (Cawthray, Prenzler, & Porter, 2013). It is highly significant that law enforcement officials are reprimanded for their negative actions when ethical protocol is not up to par. Failure to do so raises controversy as to why law enforcement agencies are not properly addressing the communities’ concerns when law enforcement officials go against integrity, the code of ethics, and why they were not professional in addressing the

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