Ethics in Law Enforcement
One of the biggest problems affecting ethics, values and diversity in law enforcement is racial profiling. Racial profiling has existed since the end of slavery. In the Southern states laws called "Black Codes" were created, and these made it illegal for African Americans to be unemployed, to be drunk, or to be in debt. Any offense by an African American was punished by imprisonment or indentured servitude. The laws were said to aim at maintaining an unpaid labor source in the South now that slavery was outlawed. Recently, the "War on Drugs" has escalated racial profiling to new heights. Today, racial profiling is used by some police department for similar purposes. Police will often use this method based on stereotypes of African Americans and supposed connections to drug and gang activity. This can have a negative impact on sound practices in ethical standards in various ways. First, it prevents African Americans from getting the equal rights they deserve in the community, and just infringes on basic rights such as privacy. Randomly being stopped and frisked when
Racial profiling can also put stigmas on people. People cannot be expected to uphold the laws and be ethical in the community if law enforcement officials are not doing it themselves. Many also claim that with the current terrorism risk, racial profiling is critical to ensure safety. On the other hand, many argue that racial profiling is very detrimental to minority communities. While great strides have been made to hire more minorities, departments need to represent their communities both racially and ethnically. But until these changes are made, police departments will continue to lack the proper ethical standards and values required to better serve the community. Also, by employing these tactics the police are telling the community that their color can determine their guilt or innocence before they even do anything. The practice of racial profiling also leads the minority community to distrust the police, and if any crimes occur in the neighborhood they will be less likely to follow orders or give any information to the police, and this could severely hurt investigations. a person is innocent can cause great resentment and embarrassment. Even non minority communities call for changes when racial profiling is highlighted in the news. Extensive training of new recruits and current employees could also greatly reduce the practice of racial profiling. Alienating a portion of the community can also cause more crime. Constantly training officers in the proper ways to deal with different communities, relationships could be drastically improved. If officers represent their communities better, racial profiling could be greatly reduced.
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Acceptance Essays
