Police officers put their lives on the line on a daily basis to protect perfect strangers from criminal acts committed by people who have no moral or ethical compass. Police officers deal with people everyday that hate and disrespect them while doing their duty to protect the citizens of their community. The police are expected to uphold their morals and make ethical decisions in a world that has none. With their obligation to make these decisions they are sometimes wrong (Sherman, 1984). This is not to say that their decision was made outside of their ethical standards, but to say police are human just like us and can make mistakes. There are instances where a police officer’s ethics are in question. These are usually found on the borderlines
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Evidence shows that police officers are tuned in to the African American population differently than non-police (Meehan & Ponder, 2002). The contrasting views of the activity and actions are harmless to most but are seen as suspicious or criminal to the police officer (Meehan & Ponder, 2002). Police officers have developed an institutional mindset of the places in which certain people are supposed to be and how they should act (Meehan & Ponder, 2002). This mindset holds that if someone in a similar setting, doing the same activity, but either a different place or person, an officer may not find that suspicious or criminal (Meehan & Ponder, 2002). Research has also shown that race has no impact on the outcome of the police encounter (Dunham, Alpert, Stroshine & Bennett, 2005). This means that police are in tune to all forms of ethnic actions and know how to discern which are suspicious and which are not. Race is seen as a dividing point for ethics in policing. Another factor in which police make arrest is victim request to arrest (Smith, Visher & Davidson, 1984). Black victims are more likely to ask for an arrest of the black suspect than a white victim is (Smith et al., 1984). The police are accused daily of racial discrimination and oppression. There are undoubtedly instances of this around the world but intrinsically police decisions are made based on truth, which is based on …show more content…
Police and courts have historically shown lenience toward females (Visher, 1983). When police (predominately male) encounter a female suspect, the relationship is viewed as man and woman not officer and suspect (Visher, 1983). Chivalry is usually shown to the female who displays her traditional role as the female (Visher, 1983). The use of sexual innuendo is another role that plays in the factor of police discretion when it comes to women (Visher, 1983). Turning to discretion on the basis of the female being a victim, police officers showed gender based discretion in the past when dealing with perpetrators of domestic violence (Eitle, 2005). These past actions of leniency toward the male half of an abusive relationship had all but legitimized domestic violence (Eitle, 2005). As of late, the role has changed as well as officer discretion in these situations. Officers now arrest the male half of a domestic violence situation in more and more instances, which is in hopes to deter the behavior and protect the victims of this crime (Eitle,
Evidence shows that police officers are tuned in to the African American population differently than non-police (Meehan & Ponder, 2002). The contrasting views of the activity and actions are harmless to most but are seen as suspicious or criminal to the police officer (Meehan & Ponder, 2002). Police officers have developed an institutional mindset of the places in which certain people are supposed to be and how they should act (Meehan & Ponder, 2002). This mindset holds that if someone in a similar setting, doing the same activity, but either a different place or person, an officer may not find that suspicious or criminal (Meehan & Ponder, 2002). Research has also shown that race has no impact on the outcome of the police encounter (Dunham, Alpert, Stroshine & Bennett, 2005). This means that police are in tune to all forms of ethnic actions and know how to discern which are suspicious and which are not. Race is seen as a dividing point for ethics in policing. Another factor in which police make arrest is victim request to arrest (Smith, Visher & Davidson, 1984). Black victims are more likely to ask for an arrest of the black suspect than a white victim is (Smith et al., 1984). The police are accused daily of racial discrimination and oppression. There are undoubtedly instances of this around the world but intrinsically police decisions are made based on truth, which is based on …show more content…
Police and courts have historically shown lenience toward females (Visher, 1983). When police (predominately male) encounter a female suspect, the relationship is viewed as man and woman not officer and suspect (Visher, 1983). Chivalry is usually shown to the female who displays her traditional role as the female (Visher, 1983). The use of sexual innuendo is another role that plays in the factor of police discretion when it comes to women (Visher, 1983). Turning to discretion on the basis of the female being a victim, police officers showed gender based discretion in the past when dealing with perpetrators of domestic violence (Eitle, 2005). These past actions of leniency toward the male half of an abusive relationship had all but legitimized domestic violence (Eitle, 2005). As of late, the role has changed as well as officer discretion in these situations. Officers now arrest the male half of a domestic violence situation in more and more instances, which is in hopes to deter the behavior and protect the victims of this crime (Eitle,