Diversity values and ethics in public safety PDF

Running head: DIVERSITY, VALUES AND ETHICS IN PUBLIC SAFETY
Diversity, Values and Ethics in Public Safety
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DIVERSITY, VALUES AND ETHICS IN PUBLIC SAFETY 2
Diversity, Values and Ethics in Public Safety
Introduction
There are various theories of ethics that define the conditions that must be met for an
action to be considered either as morally right or wrong. This assignment will use two of
these theories to analyse a newspaper article. The theories are teleological and deontological.
The article to be analysed was obtained from the Toronto Sun. It describes a police officer
who fails to carry out his duties well. As the article indicates, he leads a double life. He
carries some of his duties well but breaks the law when the authorities are not monitoring
him. Using both theories, the officer can be considered to be morally wrong. Here is the link
of the article (https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/toronto-cop-who-led-double-life-
sacked-by-police-tribunal)
Summary of the Article
The article chosen is titled “Toronto cop who led double life sacked by police
tribunal.” The article was obtained from the Toronto sun. It was published on 5th June 2018.
The article provides information about a traffic cop who was reluctant to carry out
investigations in to two kidnappings. The cop is described as leading a double life. On one
hand, he was a police officer who carried out his duties normally. On the other hand, he was
involved in acts of misconduct and did it in a way that ensured that he was not caught. The
court found him guilty of three charges. One he was guilty of insubordination. Secondly, he
had breached the confidence that is entrusted to a police officer and thirdly he had engaged in
two conducts that are discreditable. Preston concluded that his character was at a point where
not even rehabilitation would help (Toronto sun, 2018). He was therefore deemed unqualified
and should therefore leave his duties as a police officer. This happened on June 2018. This

DIVERSITY, VALUES AND ETHICS IN PUBLIC SAFETY 3
was not the first time that the officer was being charged. In the year 2007, he had been
criminally charged with failure to observe the Police Act. He was however acquitted in 2012.
The first kidnapping incident that was reported to him involved a man who worked in a
marijuana growing farm. The man had reported to the officer that he had been kidnapped and
mistreated. He added that the kidnapper only released him when his boss paid a ransom of
two hundred thousand dollars. The officer (whose name is Floria) assured the man that he
would investigate the incident. He further instructed the man to lie to the doctor that the
bruises he had were as result of an accident. It turned out that the officer was lying for he
never did any investigation. The Preston asserted that the officer told the man to lie to the
doctor so that the police would not be informed about the incident. Just a month later, the
very officer received information from one his acquittances that another kidnapping incident
had occurred. The incident involved a couple (a man and a wife). The officer instructed the
acquittance to take that information to another division. It is clear that that the officer did not
want to carry out the investigation. Preston asserted that the second incidence of kidnapping
would potentially have been asserted had the officer carried out investigations into the first
case.
Teleological Theory
Teleological theory of ethics encompasses several ethics theories. There is one feature
that characterizes all the theories of ethics that are under the umbrella of teleological theory.
The feature is that all the theories are define actions to be morally right or wrong depending
on the consequences or effects of the actions (Rae, 2018). This simply means that an action is
concluded to be morally right if its consequences are positive. On the other hand, an action is