The implementation paper is to include, but is not limited to, suggested training, identification of stakeholders, the implementation plan and process, and a draft code of ethics. If you make use of an existing code of ethics, make sure to properly cite and reference the work of others. The body of the paper shall be 6 to 8 pages, excluding other material such as the cover page, abstract, table of contents, graphics and tables, references, and imported (existing) codes of ethics. To the extent possible, include in your paper, any support for the plan you’re proposing (what suggests it will work). The Individual Paper is worth 100 points and is 30% of your final grade. The Individual Implementation Paper shall contain: Cover Page (not included in page count) Body of Paper (6 to-8 pages) description of the issue/lapse Description of the cause of the lapse (to the extent possible) Plan to be put in place to avoid future lapses References Page (not included in page count) The paper sh
Addressing Ethical Lapse in the Police Department
The Law Enforcement Departments, such as the Berlin and other police departments are the backbone of the global public safety. The police are the body of officers who represent civil government authority. The police are typically responsible for ensuring that there are law and order in their respective jurisdictions (Ghavami et al., 2021).
They are required to maintain public safety and order, detect, investigate, and prevent any criminal activity, and enforce the law (Bogumil & Kuhlmann, 2021). They are also entrusted with various regulatory and licensing activities, such as providing the driving license to people who own cars and provide a firearm certificate to private firearm owners (McCluskey et al., 2019).
As such, the police are required to maintain a high level of integrity and accountability. However, recently, the police across the globe have inappropriately conducted themselves. One of the public safety departments that have recorded various unethical issues is the police department. The purpose of this assignment is to use the Principle-Based Ethical Decision-Making model and develop a plan to help solve ethical lapses in the Police Department.
Description of the Issue
On 25th May 2020, police officers arrested George Floyd, a 46-year-old man of African American origin in response to a call made by a convenience store worker. The employee called and told the officers that Mr. Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes (Weine et al., 2020). Seventeen minutes after the first police officers responded to the call, Mr. Floyd was seen lying on the ground with no signs of life.
The victim had been killed by the officers. This issue caused uproar in most of the cities and countries across Europe including Germany, the UK, and the US. Various protests were held to tell the police that black lives matter. In almost every city in Europe and the US, protests were uniting all ethnic groups across the country demonstrating police brutality, especially among black people (Dreyer et al., 2020).
Demonstrations were seen in countries, such as the UK, German, France, and Brazil. The officers involved in the case were all white, making the situation be interpreted as police brutality against black people. A human rights group known as Black Lives Matter was even formed to respond to the issue.
Cause of the Issue
The main cause of the issue is that the police officers who arrived at the scene violated police policies and the code of conduct, considering how they handled the situation. Videos showed that Floyd was killed by the four police officers within seventeen minutes. An officer known as Derek Chauvin was seen in the witness video pinning Mr. Floyd to the ground by putting his neck on the victim for at least seven minutes.
The other officers who were with him did not do anything. They witnessed as Floyd was harassed and murdered. According to Weine et al. (2020), police are supposed to arrest a suspect following the steps stipulations and the bill of rights. Mr. Floyd was supposed to read his rights, be arrested, and then taken to a police station for questions. If the police have evidence that pins him to the allegations, he was supposed to be arraigned in court and face the justice system. However, in this case, the police did not open a case against the suspect, hence denying him his right to fair trial and judgment.
The Principle-Based Ethical Decision-Making Model Application
The issue above can be solved using the six-step approach as shown in the Principle-Based Ethical Decision-Making model. The first step to this approach is identifying the key ethical issues in the situation (Russo, n.d). The following are the key ethical issues in the situation above. The first issue is that the police are supposed to protect their citizens from any harm regardless of their status in society. However, Mr. Chauvin and his friends failed to do their duties and instead participated in the murder of Floyd.
Video footage did not show where Floyd was armed, a situation that can warrant police use of force. Another ethical issue in the case is that the other three policemen watched as their colleague pressed his knees on Floyd’s neck until he was choked to death. Apart from providing backup, the other three officers have the role to ensure that their co-workers are following rules and responsibilities.
The second step is identifying the ethical articles related to the situation. The ethical code related to the situation is to “uphold the Constitution of nations, state statutes and local laws (Shane et al., 2017).” The constitution requires