NCJ Number
206997
Date Published
2000
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video dramatizes and analyzes various ethical dilemmas in which police officers may find themselves, with suggestions for an ethics checklist that officers can apply to situations in which they are confronted with alternative responses.
Abstract
Using an illustration from the fictional story of Huckleberry Finn, the narrator first discusses the conflict that arises when two ethical principles collide, notably the moral requirement to tell the truth and/or obey the law and the principle of acting in the best interests of another individual. In Huck Finn's case, he lied to keep an escaped slave from being captured and punished, but lied and disobeyed the law in the process. Using this example, the narrator recommends that a police officer ask two basic questions when confronted with an ethical conflict. First, what would be the consequences if everyone handled similar situations in accordance with the ethical principle under consideration? Second, is this the best course of action when the interests of all parties are considered? These basic questions are applied to dramatized scenarios in which police officers are faced with ethical dilemmas. In one case, a police officer must deal with a homeless man found sleeping in an abandoned car on a cold day. In a second dramatization, two patrol officers engage in a cover-up when one officer's weapon accidentally discharges when subduing a fleeing suspect, albeit without serious injury to the suspect. In a third dramatization, a new police sergeant must decide how to handle a situation when his supervisor instructs him to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward officers who are taking too much "break" time on the midnight shift. The final dramatization involves the ethical dilemma of an officer's accepting a free cup of coffee from a Vietnamese convenience store owner who would be offended if his gift of the coffee is not accepted without paying for it. Following each dramatization, the alternative responses of the officers are discussed by an ethicist.