Ethics and Moral Duties, Essay Example

Describe the connection between ethics and moral duties, and then list 10 ethical values in order of their importance to you.

The connection between ethics and moral duty is the responsibility to maintain trust and respect of one’s community. It is most critical in the relationship police officers have with ethics and moral duties, as they need the trust and respect of the community in order to perform their job. As noted in the Police officers oath of office and code of ethics a question of knowledge study, “generally ethical behavior includes the following qualities; honesty, integrity, fairness, loyalty, kindness, courage generosity, compassion, doing good, doing right, and unselfishness. When people display these qualities, they are behaving ethically (DeShon, 2000).” These ethical values allow officers to sustain a solid connection between ethics and their moral duty to keep the respect and trust of the public.

You are an officer of a SWAT team, and you have been notified by radio to proceed Code 3 to a location where there is an armed suspect barricaded with a hostage. You have taken a shortcut on a seldom-used narrow rural road. On your left side is a vertical canyon wall. On your right side is a vertical drop of 500 feet. Suddenly, a small child darts across your path. With insufficient braking time, you are faced with either killing the child and arriving at the SWAT operation in time to save the hostage, or sacrificing your life and possibly that of the hostage by swerving to miss the child and plunging over the side of the cliff. Write down your decision and why you made it.

As DeShon notes, “In my readings on ethics I have found there are three areas that have traditionally influenced people to do right or behave ethically, the family, religion, and government (DeShon, 2000).” Keeping this concept in mind, if I were the only officer in the vehicle and there was a possibility of saving both my life and the life of the child by steering the truck near the fall of the cliff, and then jumping out before I fall with it, I would try. In a real world scenario, there is always a possibility for trying to survive. In a controlled theoretical scenario, where I have no other choice, I would drive off the side of cliff and die to keep the life of the child. I base this decision on the concepts of family, religion, and government being the main influencing factors. Saving the life of the child is sustaining the fundamentals of family; dying for another is staying in line with religious morals, and seeing as I am a SWAT officer it means I have a moral obligation to the government to serve and protect the community. If there is a possibility that I could save the life of myself and the child, then there is also the possibility of radioing the team to inform them they will need to dispatch another van. Seeing as how the life of the hostage hangs in the balance, and the potential death of myself or the child is more urgent and controlled, I would focus on the matter in front of me.

Now imagine the same set of conditions except that you are driving the SWAT van and it contains all 20 members of your team. Does your decision change? If so, how? Write it down.

The decision does not change for me, but it might for other members of my team. The fact is that the entire team has taken an oath to put their lives on the line to serve and protect others. As we are all under the same oath hypothetically, we should all be willing to take the same plunge over the cliff. In a realistic scenario though, there should be time enough for the team to get out the back of the van while I drive it over.

Again, imagine the same set of conditions except that you have only one member of the SWAT team in your car. Now what do you decide? Write it down. What moral standard or ethical program did you employ to make your decisions? Was it the same for each scenario?

As I noted above, the conditions would not change. I would try to allow the other team member to get off the van. In a realistic scenario there would be time for it. In a hypothetical scenario, we both took the oath, and had full lives, so the child would be spared for our own lives.  I base this decision on the same moral standards of the first two scenarios family, religion, government. The ethical program would be those virtues set by the SWAT team at orientation.

Work Cited

Borrello, A. (2012). Focus on ethics. the power of police civility. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/august-2012/focus-on-ethics

DeShon, R. W. (2000). Police officers oath of office and code of ethics a question of knowledge. Retrieved from http://www.emich.edu/cerns/downloads/papers/PoliceStaff/Unsorted/OATH & ETHICS.pdf