Ethical Dilemmas
Situation 1
You are a rookie police officer on your first patrol. The older, experienced officer tells you that the restaurant on the corner likes to have you guys around, so it gives free meals. Your partner orders steak, potatoes, and all the trimmings. What are you going to do? What if it were just coffee at a convenience store?
What if the owner refused to take your money at the cash register?
Situation 2
You are a rookie police officer who responds to a call for officer assistance. Arriving at the scene, you see a ring of officers surrounding a suspect who is down on his knees. You don’t know what happened before you arrived, but you see a sergeant use a Taser on the suspect, and you see two or three officers step in and take turns hitting the suspect with their nightsticks about the head and shoulders. This goes on for several minutes as you stand in the back of the circle. No one says anything that would indicate that this is not appropriate behavior. What would you do?
What would you do later when asked to testify that you observed the suspect make “threatening” gestures to the officers involved?
Situation 3
You (a female police officer) have been working in a small-town police department for about six months. During that time you have been dealing with a fellow police officer who persists in making comments about how pretty you are, how you don’t look like a police officer, how you shouldn’t be dealing with the “garbage” out on the streets, and so on. He has asked you out more than a dozen times even though you have told him every time that you are not interested and that you want him to stop asking you out and to stop making comments. Although he hasn’t made any derogatory or offensive comments, his constant attention is beginning to make you not want to go to work. You have a romantic partner, and you are definitely not interested in your fellow officer. You have mentioned it to your FTO, who is a type of father figure, but he likes the guy and tells you that you should be flattered. You want to file a sexual
harassment charge against him but hesitate because, although you do feel harassed, you don’t feel especially threatened; further, you know that you would encounter negative reactions from the other officers in the department
who like the guy.
What should you do?
Situation 4
You and your partner have been working together for more than five years. He has seen you through the serious illness of your young child, and you have been there for him during his divorce. After the divorce, though, you have
become increasingly anxious about him. He is obviously not taking care of his health, he drinks too much, and he has been consistently late to roll call. Now you can smell alcohol on his breath during the day and suspect that the everpresent cup of coffee he carries has more than a little whiskey in it. You’ve tried talking to him several times, but he just gets angry and tells you to mind your own business. Today, when you both responded to an accident scene, a witness drew you aside and said, “Aren’t you going to do something about him?” pointing to your partner. Unfortunately, you knew what she meant, for he was literally swaying, trying to keep his balance in the hot sun. To make matters worse, he insists on driving.
What would you do?
Situation 5
You are a waitress (or waiter) in an all-night diner and are not too happy about pulling the midnight shift. Every evening, luckily, police officers drift in for their coffee breaks. You have been told that the diner does not offer gratuities and that you are not to give free coffee or meals to anyone, including police officers. But it’s 2:00 A.M., and there are a lot of scary people out there. You figure that the pot of coffee might cost only a couple of bucks, so it’s worth it to keep officers coming in. You suspect that the owner of the diner wouldn’t be happy (because he doesn’t
like police), but he’s not here, so you fall into the habit of giving all the officers free coffee. Then it escalates to free pie (it was going to be thrown out anyway), and now when no one is around, you’ll let the officers go without paying
for their meal.
Do you see a problem with your actions?
Who should make the decision—the owner or the employee who is on site?
If you were to stop giving free coffee and pie, do you think the officers would stop coming in?
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