Ethics are a human-made construct, a code of conduct established by humans in a certain culture, time and place. When it comes to law enforcement, ethics, or conduct of police officers, are to be those already established by humans who invest in police officers the official capacity to see that others follow them. When police officers do not follow the established code of ethics, they are typically guilty of misconduct. The same is true for the justice system in which police officers play a vital role. As Felix Frankfurter said, “The Court’s authority—possessed of neither the purse nor the sword—ultimately rests on substantial public confidence in its moral sanctions” (Fitzhenry 196). Public confidence in police ethics and conduct has waxed and waned over the decades, but most recently many publicized incidents of police misconduct and unethical behavior have made the general public wary of law enforcement ethics and conduct in general.
Before discussing various incidents of police misconduct and unethical behavior, we need a measure by which we can assess the conduct and ethics of police behavior. Since ethics are often an already established human construct, this is easy to do by looking at the code of ethics and conduct guidelines outlined in the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics. The following five guidelines for ethical conduct for police have been taken directly from the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics:
As a law enforcement officer, my fundamental duty is to serve mankind; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against oppression or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the constitutional rights of all men to liberty, equality, and justice.
Honest in thought and deed in both my personal and official life, I will be exemplary in obeying the laws of the land and the regulations of my department.
I will never act officiously or permit personal feelings...