Ethical Action: Police Officer's Ethical Dilemma and Theory Analysis

This report delves into the ethical challenges faced by a police officer, specifically addressing the conflict arising from personal relationships with criminals. The assignment examines the application of ethical theories, such as consequentialism and non-consequentialism, to analyze the officer's actions and decisions. It explores the implications of the officer's behavior in relation to the code of ethics and the responsibility to uphold the law. The report aims to evaluate the officer's actions and provide a comprehensive understanding of the ethical dilemmas involved in law enforcement, emphasizing the importance of maintaining integrity and professional conduct. The report also references the importance of detaining criminals to ensure the safety of the society. The report uses the references from Hayes (2015) and Miller (2014) to provide more insights on the topic.

Running head: ETHICAL ACTION
Ethical Action
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

1ETHICAL ACTION
Ethical action by police officer:
The present case is based on the ethical dilemma that had been faced by a police
officer and what will be his action regarding the ethical issues. It has been mentioned in the
code of ethics that every officer is needed to serve the humankind and try to secure the
interest of the individuals. It is the utmost duty of the police officer to abide by the
constitutional rules. In this case, it has been observed that the police officer has been attached
with a criminal and involved himself in the activities of the criminal. It is the primary duty of
the police officer to detain the criminal behind the bar and secure the interest of the society.
However, in this case, it has been observed that the police officer had fallen into certain
ethical dilemmas regarding the detention as he was personally attached with the criminal
(Hayes 2015).
Certain ethical theories should be applied in this case to determine all the ethical
actions made by the police officer in such situation. The theory of Act non-consequentialism
can be applied here in this case to rationalize the attachment of the officer with the criminal.
As per this theory, the police officer should act like a friend to the criminal as it has been
stated that the rules are not able to govern the act of the others (Miller 2014).
The theory of consequetialist can be defined as the antonym to the previous theory. It
has been stated that the officer should have faced certain consequence in case he wanted to
detain the criminal behind the bar.
It has been stated under the Code of Ethics that a police officer should have to take
reasonable steps regarding the avoidance of conflicts. Therefore, in this case, the police
officer should have to take reasonable action for the benefit of the society by maintaining the
rules of the code of ethics.

2ETHICAL ACTION
Reference:
Hayes, S 2015, Criminal Justice Ethics, Routledge, Abingdon
Miller, Gordon 2014, Investigative Ethics: Ethics for Police Detectives and Criminal
Investigators, John Wiley & Sons