Instructions
Please review the attached ethics assignment, please rewrite to include all required information listed in the instructions below. I have attached a copy of the Minneapolis Police Departments Oath of office and what is offered via training. Here is a link to the glassdoor reviews. Please incorporate the Oath and the lack of ethic training as well as the glassdoor rating and reviews.
https://www.glassdoor.com/Overview/Working-at-Minneapolis-Police-Department-EI_IE205283.11,40.htm
Find a news article concerning an ethical issue involving a state, local, or federal government agency or a nonprofit organization.
Briefly describe the situation.
What would you have done in this situation? Apply steps 1-5 of Cooper’s Decision-making model (see Module 2) to determine the most ethical course of action in this situation.
Find some information about the ethical culture of the agency or nonprofit organization. Suggested sources of information:
Search for the agency or organization’s code of ethics (may also be called “statement of ethics”; “code of ethical conduct”; or something along that line)
Search for the agency or organization’s ethics training, ethics program, etc.
Search for name of agency/organization “ethics division”, “ethics compliance”,” ethics committee”, “ethics council.”
Read reviews from former employees on Glassdoor.com.
5. Using this information, apply Cooper’s application of the design approach to your decision (see Module 13). That is, what organizational factors may encourage or impede your selected action? What may need to change to make the organization’s ethical culture more supportive of the conduct that you decided is the “right fit”/the ethical choice? What approaches could be used by leadership in the agency/organization to address or prevent similar issues or to support employees’ ability to make ethical choices?
Allen, J. (2021, April 5). Minneapolis Police Chief Testifies Chauvin Violated Policy in George Floyd Arrest. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-race- George Floyd-idUSKBN2BS0Y0
The Use of Excessive Force By-Law Enforcement
Police brutality and racial bias have been an unending challenge within the law enforcement system, with minority groups primarily affected. The death of George Floyd in 2020 added salt to injury by demonstrating how the country still lags on a matter that is morally wrong and transgressing the equality principle. Derek Chauvin, the officer responsible for the death and now a former Minneapolis Police Officer, was found guilty of the murder crime during the recently ended trial. As he awaits his sentencing., stakeholders across the board acknowledge that this was a historic trial as it happened in a country whose legal system seldomly holds police officers accountable for killing on the job. Notably, the Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo stated in his testimony that Derek Chauvin did violate the Department’s rules and Code of ethics through his deadly conduct. The Chief did fire Chauvin alongside the other three officers that were present during the unfortunate incident.
However, this case would point out the delicate matter of ethics with law enforcement, especially in force. Allen (2021) pointed out the sentiments of Chief Arradondo, who had denied the claims made by Chauvin’s lawyers that Chauvin was acting as per the Department’s training. The Chief indicated that Chauvin did violate the long-standing ethics and values upheld by the Department. The Chief’s testimony was also historic, considering senior police officers rarely testify against their officers, especially on the matter of excessive force (Bogel-Burroughs & Arango, 2021). Nonetheless, the fact remains that despite excessive force being unethical, especially when there is no reasonable reason to use it, law enforcement officers still use it.
Ethical Decision-making
Terry Cooper presented an approach incorporated by law enforcement officers when dealing with ethical challenges such as using excessive force (Geuras & Garofalo, 2005). This model incorporates a definite procedure that can be applied in handling the unethical conduct of Derek Chauvin. The ethical-decision making model has been legendary in making the best ethical course of action. The first step of the approach needs affirming and describing the situation, including the primary participants, respective perceptions, the issues, and threats within the situation. In Chauvin’s case, George Floyd, who was an unarmed African American male, died at the hands of law enforcement. His death was linked to the use of excessive force by the police officer. A bystander recorded the situation, and the recording would be shared widely to spark protests globally against police brutality.
The second step of Cooper’s model is to define the ethical matter, which entails looking into respective values and principles in this specific ethical situation. The Minneapolis Police Chief Arradondo indicated that Chauvin did violate the Department’s ethics code on respecting the sanctity of life. Furthermore, Chauvin’s conduct dilated several public service values, including benevolence, humaneness, lawfulness, and social justice. According to Molina & McHeown (2012), law enforcement officers need to be benevolent by conducting themselves in mannerisms that foster goodness and protect citizens from harm. Concurrently, their actions need to demonstrate humanity in terms of compassion, respect, and upholding dignity. Chauvin went against these values.
Conversely, an ethical dilemma did present itself to Chief Arradondo arising from conflicting values and principles. As a public officer, one is expected to show accountability, impartiality, integrity, lawfulness, and public interests. However, a public officer is also expected to uphold the administrative value of organizational interests or instead promote the welfare of his Department. According to Allen (2021). Senior police officials will rarely take a stand against their former colleagues. This is because they would not want to make their organizations look bad in front of the public. Nonetheless, Chief Arradondo chose to testify against his junior, but one can attest that he faced an ethical dilemma.
The third step is to search for alternate courses of action concerning the ethical issues identified. For example, from Derek Chauvin’s case, the alternatives include the Department of Police denying that George Floyd was a victim of police brutality. In addition, the Chief compelling Chauvin and colleagues to resign without facing charges placed against them or the Department firing Chauvin and his colleagues, conduct extensive investigations on the murder, and file charges against the officers. Notably, each course of action does have its subsequent effects.
The fourth step focuses on projecting the possible effects of the alternatives. Choosing to deny that George Floyd was a victim of police brutality could lead to widespread outrage and protests, which can be violent and fatal. Also, this would cause a further strain on the relationship between law enforcement and the community. The second option of compelling the officers to resign without filing charges against them will lead to injustice to George Floyd and his minority community that has constantly complained of it. This alternative would be a violation of the public service values and principles. The third option of firing and placing separate charges against them would uphold justice for George Floyd and his community. It may also have a deterrent effect on law enforcement from excessive force. It will possibly rekindle a better relationship between law enforcement and the community. Considering these three options and their subsequent consequences, the best option is the third. The Police Department does fire Derek Chauvin and colleagues, conduct extensive investigations and then charge the culpable officers for the murder. Cooper indicated that while the step may be a part of an informal decision-making process, it must be done consciously and systematically (Geuras & Garofalo, 2005).
Minneapolis Police Department’s Code of Ethics
This Department has an oath of office which is a commitment its officers will need to sign. This oath requires the officers to support the United States Constitution, the constitution and laws of the Minnesota State, and the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Minneapolis. In upholding this oath, the officer promises to be a peacekeeper, cause no harm, uphold and protect the sanctity of life, and protect the community from any party that causes harm to another individual. The oath states that the officer must intervene either physically or verbally if they note an individual violating the rights. Their services will entail acknowledging that they serve people who have dignity, should be respected, treated humanely, and will love their service to the community.
Additionally, the Department does indicate that it has a training division that coordinates the Department’s training. They focus on developing each employee regardless of level professionally, identifying the strategic and tactical ways to improve public trust via extensive interactions with community members, and having every new officer trained through its Academy. The training covers procedural justice, leadership development, use of force, medical and crisis intervention training.
Despite the oath of office, the Policy and Procedure Manual, and the training division in the Department, the organization still has no entrenchment of an ethical culture. The Department lacks a well-formulated Code of Ethics, has no specific ethics training program, and its governance structure has no ethics committee to look into the organization’s ethical issues. According to Allen (2021), Chauvin indicated that he was following the training knowledge gained throughout his 19 years of experience in law enforcement. However, his conduct led to the death of an unarmed individual raises concerns about the training program in the organization. According to many (2021), Chauvin has racked up 17 complaints of misconduct and was involved in near-fatal encounters in his line of duty. Despite the conduct, he remained a police officer in the Department for 19 years, including being a training officer. The ethics in this Police Department were deficient for allowing this unethical conduct to continue and even lead to the death of George Floyd.
Furthermore, the Minneapolis Police Department follows a hierarchical organizational structure which is a possible contributor to a weak ethical culture. For instance, several officers could fear reporting unethical conduct of their colleagues due to the belief that nothing could be done to their superiors. The organization has received low ratings looking into the Glassdoor reviews on the organization’s culture, values, and relations with senior management (Glassdoor.com, n.d.). These low ratings already indicate that the organization is not working towards attaining its desired culture. The organizational members, which are primarily the police officers, do not follow the company values; there is no value given to quality work from those doing a good job; hence the officers see no reason to provide quality service. Furthermore, the senior management received a low review to indicate that the leadership is doing what it is supposed to be doing. Concerning ethical issues, the leadership fails to provide the guidelines that law enforcement officers need to follow, the ethical priorities and goals that should be focussed on, and ensuring that their officers are doing as directed.
The organization also lacks a well-crafted ethical compliance policy to help the employees make daily decisions that will advance their objectives without the need to venture into the “dark side”. Law enforcement officers have to deal with numerous ethical challenges in their duties (Hutson, 2019). The development and implementation of ethical standards should guide law enforcement in whatever they do. However, because they do not have a compliance policy, then there is no clear path that the officers will follow in complying with the ethical standards and policies. This is why Derek Chauvin could be engaged in numerous misconduct cases and remain within the police force. No one is calling out the officers engaging in ethical misconduct; hence its consistent happening that it even becomes fatal.
Ethical Decision-Making In Minneapolis Police Department
Notably, achieving an ethical course of action within the Minneapolis Police department will require Cooper’s Design Approach. The approach comprises an Assessment of the organizational factors that will vitalize or hinder ethical conduct. The factors include the organization’s structure and culture. The subsequent step is to formulate strategies that will make the organization support ethical conduct. The leaders will ensure that their officers work on upholding a culture that supports the identified values. The leaders will need to reward, recognize or discipline behaviors.
Notably, these are not behaviors that the Minneapolis Police Department and encouraged. The factors that hinder the ethical behaviors in this organization are primarily the hierarchical organizational culture. This culture discourages honest reporting and the lack of an ethical culture, considering that communication following the bottom-up approach is easily strained. Therefore, there is a need for the organization to adopt a team-based structure (Nishadha, 2020). The employees and leadership form various teams to hold each other accountable and responsible to develop an ethical culture. The strict and rigid hierarchy needs to be eliminated as it downplays any form of ethical reporting while delaying the ethical and disciplined processes. An open-door policy for ethical reporting is hence necessary as it will streamline the ethical and disciplinary processes.
Also, the establishment of an ethical culture in the Department is vital. This will start by developing and implementing a comprehensive Code of Ethics. a well-detailed training program, and plans to ensure that it will be a continuous elementary of their daily operations. Generally, this Department requires an organization-wide change that will primarily entail changing its structure and culture hence ensuring ethical behavior in their organizations. This will start by having an ethical committee that identifies ethical issues related to law enforcement, developing a proper code of ethics, compliance standards, and disciplining processes for ethical misconduct. The training program should equip the officers with the skills, knowledge, and expertise that will help in dealing with ethical dilemmas.
References
Allen, J. (2021, April 5). Minneapolis Police Chief Testifies Chauvin Violated Policy in George Floyd Arrest. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-race- George Floyd-idUSKBN2BS0Y0
Bogel-Burroughs, N., & Arango, T. (2021, April 21). What to know about the trial of Derek Chauvin. The New York Times – Breaking News, US News, World News, and Videos. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/derek-chauvin-trial-explained
Geuras, D., & Garofalo, C. (2005). Practical Ethics in Public Administration. Virginia: Management Concepts.
Glassdoor.com. (n.d.). Working at Minneapolis police department. Glassdoor. https://www.glassdoor.com/Overview/Working-at-Minneapolis-Police-Department-EI_IE205283.11,40.htm
Hutson, S. (2019, November 12). Compliance work in police oversight. The Compliance and Ethics Blog. https://complianceandethics.org/compliance-work-in-police-oversight/
Jany, L. (2021, April 3). Chauvin Trial Again Casts Spotlight on Minneapolis Police Department’s Training Program. PBS Frontline. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/derek-chauvin-trial-minneapolis-police-department-training-program/
Molina, A.D. & McKeown, C.L. (2012). The Heart of the Profession: Understanding Public Service Values. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 18(2), 375-396.
Nishadha. (2020, August 20). Types of organizational charts | Organization structure types for companies. Create Blog. https://creately.com/blog/diagrams/types-of-organizational-charts/
