Should All Officers Found Guilty of Deception be Subject to Termination?
You must format your essays as you would a formal paper, following the guidelines set forth for papers in this course. To adequately respond to the question, you will need to write at least 3 pages (not including the title, abstract, and resource pages.) The essays are open book/open notes.
Citation style: current APA
All papers must use the following format:
o Times New Roman
o 12-point font
o Double spaced
o 1” margins from left to right and top to bottom
Final Essay Question:
As we consider the true purpose and necessity of accountability and integrity within law enforcement, we must also consider how this should be addressed. Most often, officers that are found guilty of deception through internal administrative investigations are cited for termination. With this in mind, should this be a matter of common response and general public policy? Should all officers found guilty of deception (lying) be subject to termination? As you strive to answer the overall question, use the steps below to arrive at your final answers in route to the last one:
It is simple, but is it fair?
Is it possible that you could lose some really good personnel who only messed up once in their whole career?
What effect will such a drastic measure have on the personnel’s families?
If you keep them, will it affect the overall credibility of your agency?
What conclusion does the writer reach? Why or why not?
What policy would you recommend for your chief, sheriff, warden, state police commissioner, and/or any other affiliated executive with whom you may work?
Law Enforcement Deception and Department Actions
Your Name
Course and Section
Professor’s Name
March 8, 2023
To retain public trust and ensure that police are performing their tasks effectively and legally, accountability and integrity are crucial in law enforcement. Authorities that violate their regulations must be held accountable and disciplined. The judicial system can be weakened by law enforcement officials lying and deceiving the public, and the law enforcement agency's reputation can be damaged.
Depending on the gravity of the conduct and the agency's policies, firing may be the proper course of action when officers are found guilty of lying through internal administrative investigations. However, it is crucial to remember that every situation must be examined individually, and termination should not always result from lying. Whenever an authority figure disobeys a rule or regulation, there should be a disciplinary rule rather than a definitive termination because people can evolve and occasionally make mistakes.
Other alternative remedies include counseling, retraining, disciplinary action, or a mix. It is also critical to remember that an unbiased and fair inquiry process is necessary to ensure officers are held accountable for their conduct but not unfairly penalized. The ultimate goal of public policy should be to encourage openness, responsibility, and integrity within the legal system. To ensure that everyone receives a fair share of social justice, this may entail creating explicit policies and processes for looking into and dealing with cases of deceit, giving officers frequent training and education, and encouraging community involvement and oversight (Justice and Fairness - Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, n.d.).
Fairness in this situation must be judged individually and depends on several variables, including the seriousness of the offense, its context, and the specific policies and procedures in place within the law enforcement agency. In the end, the law of justice will determine the appropriate punishment. Generally, a claim can be made that officers who lie or deceive have betrayed the public's trust and disregarded their profession's ethical requirements. As a result, there ought to be repercussions for such actions (Webb, 2016).
Yeah, it is both feasible and unlikely since a decent cop would not act to break the law, and if they do, they should be interrogated to learn the real reasons for their actions. Following that, all of their actions will be evaluated to determine whether they were justified and carried out for the benefit of many people rather than just themselves. The agency may consider other types of discipline or remedial action, such as counseling or retraining, instead of dismissal when an officer commits a mistake or uses dishonest...