Without Ethics, It Is a Lost Cause 2 Without Ethics, It Is a Lost Cause Abdulrahman Alhazmi Northern Arizona University CCJ 345W Kenneth Cruz October 3, 2016 Without Ethics, It Is a Lost Cause The U.S Department of Justice report that was done in regard to the Baltimore Police Department is something that supported a great deal of research conducted by social scientists regarding biased policing in the United States. One of the primary reasons why so many police departments are in a problematic situation with the general public, especially African-Americans, is because of a complete lack of ethics and ethical training. This problem with ethics is something that is pervasive from the top of many organizations all the way down to the bottom. In the past decades there has been a significant erosion of public confidence in the police and their institutions (Vicchio, 2003). There are many studies that make this obvious. There has been a huge drop in police officer trust recorded from 1980 to 1995 (Vicchio, 2003). To make matters even worse especially in this day and age, many studies have also shown that there is a huge difference between African-American respondents and white respondents when it came to the question of whether they trust the police (Vicchio, 2003). The thing is, when we talk about integrity, how is it possible to instill integrity in the entire police department? One suggestion that many people in the academic world have is that the testing instruments that actually test police integrity at the time of recruiting need to be better than they are now (Vicchio, 2003). There should be an improvement in the way recruits are hired so that things from the beginning are a little bit less questionable. Ethics testing in the academy is another issue that needs to be addressed because it appears as though there is not enough emphasis on police ethics in the academy (Vicchio, 2003). Many training officers at the Academy do not realize just how important instilling appropriate ethics can be. During training police recruits are subjected to a lot of resocialization (Norman & James, 2005). Often times in police academy training the term ethics simply means making a moral choice between what is right and what is wrong behavior (Norman & James, 2005). It is suggested that this is the kind of trap that must be avoided because the idea of ethics is much more complicated than that (Norman & James, 2005). It seems as though one of the things that is missing is the lack of individual character that those in command have (Norman & James, 2005). In a perfect world there would be a high degree of internal accountability and intense morality felt if a commander was to have some of his troops found to be dirty or found to be bad cops (Norman & James, 2005). In this situation it takes a commander that feels as though he is missed something by fin.

1. Without Ethics, It Is a Lost Cause
2
Without Ethics, It Is a Lost Cause
Abdulrahman Alhazmi
Northern Arizona University
CCJ 345W
Kenneth Cruz
October 3, 2016
Without Ethics, It Is a Lost Cause
The U.S Department of Justice report that was done in
regard to the Baltimore Police Department is something that
supported a great deal of research conducted by social scientists
regarding biased policing in the United States. One of the
primary reasons why so many police departments are in a
problematic situation with the general public, especially
African-Americans, is because of a complete lack of ethics and
ethical training. This problem with ethics is something that is
pervasive from the top of many organizations all the way down
to the bottom.
In the past decades there has been a significant erosion of
public confidence in the police and their institutions (Vicchio,

2. 2003). There are many studies that make this obvious. There has
been a huge drop in police officer trust recorded from 1980 to
1995 (Vicchio, 2003). To make matters even worse especially in
this day and age, many studies have also shown that there is a
huge difference between African-American respondents and
white respondents when it came to the question of whether they
trust the police (Vicchio, 2003). The thing is, when we talk
about integrity, how is it possible to instill integrity in the
entire police department? One suggestion that many people in
the academic world have is that the testing instruments that
actually test police integrity at the time of recruiting need to be
better than they are now (Vicchio, 2003). There should be an
improvement in the way recruits are hired so that things from
the beginning are a little bit less questionable.
Ethics testing in the academy is another issue that needs to
be addressed because it appears as though there is not enough
emphasis on police ethics in the academy (Vicchio, 2003).
Many training officers at the Academy do not realize just how
important instilling appropriate ethics can be. During training
police recruits are subjected to a lot of resocialization (Norman
& James, 2005). Often times in police academy training the
term ethics simply means making a moral choice between what
is right and what is wrong behavior (Norman & James, 2005). It
is suggested that this is the kind of trap that must be avoided
because the idea of ethics is much more complicated than that
(Norman & James, 2005). It seems as though one of the things
that is missing is the lack of individual character that those in
command have (Norman & James, 2005). In a perfect world
there would be a high degree of internal accountability and
intense morality felt if a commander was to have some of his
troops found to be dirty or found to be bad cops (Norman &
James, 2005). In this situation it takes a commander that feels
as though he is missed something by finding out that there were
some dirty cops that came from his training class. Commander
would then feel some obligation that there is a problem that
needs to be fixed (Norman & James, 2005). If the idea of

3. having bad cops under his command does not weigh heavily on
his conscious then it will be difficult to fix the problem at any
level in the department (Norman & James, 2005). There have to
be training officers that understand and care about teaching
proper ethics or else the entire training process is a lost cause.
Vicchio, 2003 takes on explaining how a police officer
finds himself certain situations and eventually ends committing
an ethical violation. He starts by talking about having a room
full of police officers and asking them why they became cops. It
doesn't matter they will all tell you the same thing, according to
Vicchio. It doesn't matter if they are senior staff or probation
officers, it’s likely that none of them are going to say they are
in it for the money (Vicchio, 2003). The answer is going to be
the same everywhere, just said possibly in a way that is the
little bit different from person to person. There’s a good chance
that they will say something about believing in doing the right
thing or in contributing to society or in protecting society
(Vicchio, 2003). There’s a good chance that they’re going to
say that they want to do something important with their life that
helps others or that protects the neighborhood that their families
going to be growing up in. The thing is every single one of
those officers might have a different perspective on what proper
ethics is.
Most police officers when joining the force go into it
thinking they are going to be super cops, they are going to
arrest every person who breaks the law (Vicchio, 2003). Once
these officers finally joined the force and are working on day-
to-day police work they see that it is not as they assumed it was
going to be (Vicchio, 2003). At first they start out by arresting
people for the small crimes and for barely breaking the speed
limit because they think that is the right thing to do (Vicchio,
2003). Eventually they start to realize that there is no way that
they can catch everybody who breaks the law so it might be
better to work on people that they think are breaking the law
every day (Vicchio, 2003). This is when a police officer’s ethics
must come into play (Vicchio, 2003). Police officers will start

4. to ignore the small things and try to concentrate on bigger
things thinking maybe that will start to teach people a lesson
(Vicchio, 2003). But then they find out they can't stop all those
people either. Finally, one day while arresting someone the law
breaker offers the police officer money (Vicchio, 2003).
Most police officers think they deserve a little more
money (Vicchio, 2003). They think to themselves just this once
and no one will know. So the police officer makes a deal with
the law breaker and for letting the criminal go, the officer is
going to get money (Vicchio, 2003). Is this ethical? Is this the
way law enforcement should be done? Of course not in this
situation the police officer is giving someone like a drug dealer
all the power (Vicchio, 2003). This is how drug dealers become
drug lords because of police officers who are telling themselves
that ethically they are getting some of the bad guys off the
street taking a little bit of money from one drug dealer to bust
many others is a decent and ethical trade-off. This is where
much of the failing is. These officers should give been taught in
the academy to be prepared for this type of chain of events that
seems to such a common chain that gets many officers into
trouble.
Most police officers really do have good ethics and they
come into the job with the best intensions (Vicchio, 2003). The
thing is every day police have to deal with people that are in
bad moods or the don’t like them or that think that they are
doing the wrong thing by writing that speed. Every day police
have to deal with seeing dead bodies, talking to victim’s things
like rape, and just dealing in general public who gets angry at
them for doing what they at first thought was the right thing to
do. This is something that can change a person’s ethics and as
that occurs police officers begin to care less and less about
ethics and this is when corruption happens (Vicchio, 2003).
The fact of police misconduct has been well established
over time (Donahue & Felts, 1993). It is the explanations for
this misconduct that are not as well established and are the
focus of a great deal of debate (Donahue & Felts, 1993). When

5. looking at police deviance, corruption, and reform, all of these
things touch greatly on the issues of ethical behavior and
unfortunately there appears to be a significant amount of
evidence that suggests that police departments are in a crisis in
this regard (Donahue & Felts, 1993). Certainly the Baltimore
police department is one of these glaring examples of how
complete ethical breakdowns from the top to the bottom have
destroyed any possibility of having the police department that
treats its citizens in an acceptable manner.
One of the glaring problems that appears to be pervasive in
the Baltimore police department is the problem of having those
in management exercising any kind of rational discretion
whatsoever. Those in charge with the hiring and firing need to
be well versed in what appropriate ethical conduct and behavior
is and also need to exhibit this in their day to day activities as
many recruits are going to be looking up to them. When, as in
the Baltimore police department, there is corruption all the way
at the top and those who are in charge of instilling proper
values and ethics are failing having an ethical police force is
simply a lost cause.
There are few ways that have been suggested in the
academic community to start getting police officers to follow
ethics on a more consistent basis. Hiring standards have to be
tailored to better look out for people who are willing to be
unethical on the job. There will be a few that slip through the
cracks but as long as there is ethics in management those few
that slipped through the cracks can be quickly and swiftly dealt
with. Ethics should also be taught at police academies. Officers
face ethical issues in their day to day patrol and need to be
prepared into the room with these situations that arise. There is
no better time to start instilling the proper way to deal with
ethical dilemmas than in the Academy. Ethics preparation
should be practical and should include discussions of problems
faced by senior officers in the organization and lessons that
have been learned in that regard (Vicchio, 2003).
Another controversy over very important improvement

6. would be the requirement that all recruits have a college degree.
If this is required then recruits will understand the moral rigors
of police work better, and they will learn about ethics in an
environment that will simply reinforce the common place self-
serving view that the police have to bend the rules to catch the
criminals (Vicchio, 2003). Another suggestion that is coming up
fairly often in academic literature is the idea of keeping officers
from getting mixed up in corruption midcareer by continuing
their education in police ethics throughout their entire career
(Vicchio, 2003). There are also very different ethical issues and
situations experienced depending on whether it is a management
position or experienced officer on patrol for the first time. Each
of these situations should be dealt with individually and civic
examples of things to expect and ways to react to those different
possibilities that may arise during the course of the job.
The bottom line is that without ethics, expecting to do
the right thing at the right times is a lost cause. Without ethics
expecting the police to get along with the community is a lost
cause. The only way that the police are going to be able to
improve their reputation and prevent things are so pervasive in
the Baltimore Police Department would be to instill ethics from
day one, require college degrees before hiring anybody, doing
better screening of the people that are hired, and conducting
continuing education regarding police ethics throughout the
course of the officer’s employment. Only then will police begin
to regain community trust and begin to rebuild the reputation
that is so often tarnished by agencies like the Baltimore Police
Department.

7. References
Donahue, M. & Felts, A. (1993) Police Ethics: A critical
perspective. Journal of Criminal Justice. 21:4. And in
Miller, L. & Braswell, M. (2002) Human relations and police
work. Prospect Heights Ill: Waveland Press.
Norman, C., & James, N. (2005) Policing the Platonic Cave:
Ethics and Efficacy in Police Training. Policing & Society.
15:2.
U.S. Department of Justice. Civil Rights Division. (2016)
Investigation of the Baltimore City Police Department. Findings
Report.
Vicchio, S. J. (2003). Overview: Ethics and Police Integrity. In
T. L. Roleff (Ed.), At Issue. Police Corruption. San Diego:
Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from Ethics and Police
Integrity, Police Integrity: Public Service with Honor,
1997) Retrieved from
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