You are a new officer working with a field training officer (FTO) on an overnight shift.

You are a new officer working with a field training officer (FTO) on an overnight shift.

MODULE 01 DISCUSSION – ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING IN ACTION

COMPLETE RESEARCH TO IDENTIFY A RECENT NEWS ARTICLE FEATURING A POLICE OFFICER AND HIS OR HER ACTIONS IN A CASE.

INITIAL POST

• INCLUDE A LINK AND A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE.
• OF THE THREE PRIMARY ETHICAL SYSTEMS (ETHICS OF VIRTUE, ETHICAL FORMALISM, AND UTILITARIANISM), IDENTIFY WHICH ETHICAL SYSTEM YOU BELIEVE THE OFFICER USED. EXPLAIN WHY YOU CHOSE THIS ETHICAL SYSTEM.
• DESCRIBE THE BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF USING THAT SYSTEM.

RESPONSE POST

FOR EACH OF THE TWO SYSTEMS NOT SELECTED IN THE INITIAL POST, IDENTIFY A POTENTIAL OUTCOME IF THE POLICE OFFICER WAS USING THAT ETHICAL SYSTEM.

BASED ON THE THREE POTENTIAL OUTCOMES, WHICH ETHICAL SYSTEM DO YOU THINK BEST FITS THE ROLE AND PURPOSE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT WITHIN THIS SITUATION?

Module 01 Written Assignment – Ethical Systems

Scenario

You are a new officer working with a field training officer (FTO) on an overnight shift. You have been assigned to conduct extra patrols in an area recently impacted with burglaries. You have been instructed by your shift sergeant, in very clear terms, to have a “zero tolerance” and to be proactive. It is 11:00 PM and you stop a vehicle for a traffic violation and find that the driver has a felony arrest warrant issued by a judge for theft. The driver tells you she was coming home from the grocery store and that her children, 14 and 6 years old, were expecting her home shortly. The driver tells you she has no one else to take care of her children. You can see a school backpack and toys in the car and believe what she is telling you.

Instructions

Your FTO asks you to explain your options. After contemplating the steps of analyzing an ethical dilemma, use the three primary ethical systems (Virtue, Formalism, and Utilitarianism) to determine your possible courses of action.

Identify which ethical system you would use and explain why you made this choice. Finally, if the driver told you she had specific information about who had committed the recent burglaries, would that change your decision? Why or why not?