Discussion responses
I’m working on a Law exercise and need support.
1- I truly believe that when someone signs up to become a police officer, they are never off duty. Meaning, if they are off duty and they notice something that is not of the law, then they should intervene to their best of their knowledge until a police officer who is on duty can handle it further. Police officers have a responsibility to protect, serve, and uphold the law at all times. According to Baldwin, Bennell, Andersen, Semple, and Jenkins (2019, against a foundation of less risky situations, officers are expected to react to violent and dangerous circumstances, regularly experiencing novel, vague, and fast-paced unfolding occasions. It is under these conditions that officers are expected to decide, at times in a brief moment, and act to secure general society and themselves (Baldwin et al., 2019).
Reference
Baldwin, S., Bennell, C., Andersen, J., Semple, T., & Jenkins, B. (2019). Stress-Activity Mapping: Physiological Responses During General Duty Police Encounters. Frontiers In Psychology, 10. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02216.
2- All public servants to include attorneys, police officers and judges when entering this line of work make vows to uphold the laws of the land. They became the physical representation of ensuring that all laws are followed by citizens and if they failed to do so, they interpret the law to ensure that they are justly punished. With this idea in mind, I do believe that public servants should be held to a higher standard. Public servants “exercise power and authority over other and in some cases … [utilize force]” (Banks, 2020,p.4) to obtain compliance. This is a heavy responsibility that must not be taken for granted by any public servant, the government and ultimately the citizens are holding these individuals to a higher standard that does transpire into their private lives. If they are found to be behaving in an inappropriate manner to include behaving in a corruptive manner, they should be punished for their actions. Public servants must be conscious that they will be held to a higher standard by the public, even when not on official due to the overall trust the government and citizens place on them to ensure that they act in an ethical manner.
References
Banks, C. (2020). Criminal Justice Ethics: Theory and Practice (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.
3- Off duty law enforcement personnel should not be held to a higher standard. Working in the United States criminal justice system is strenuous and demanding (Trinnaman, Estrada, and Martoccia, 2018); there is no justification for essentially holding these individuals accountable 24 hours a day 7 days a week. A California police officer was disciplined by LAPD for a comment he made on facebook off duty. He was reprimanded by the department which is reasonable (Trinnaman, Estrada, and Martoccia, 2018). However, to expect an officer to be legally responsible to protect and serve every minute of their lives is unreasonable. In theory, police officers should be more ethical than the average human being, but they should not have to be held to a higher standard off the clock. The first amendment protects individuals’ privilege of expressing their own thoughts and opinions (Trinnaman, Estrada, and Martoccia, 2018). How can you justify disciplining someone who is off the clock if it is a right that is ordinarily protected?
Reference:
Trinnaman, J. G., Estrada, A., & Martoccia, S. J. (2018). Can Off-Duty Facebook Post Lead to Police Officer Being Disciplined? A California Appellate Court Says Yes. Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, 30(9), 18–19.
