Ethics in policing

Abstract

A number of ethical issues and dilemmas are to be found in policing. Police officers do engage in unethical behaviour which often originates from the norms of the organisational culture. However, working in the world of policing provides officers with the ability to rationalise, excuse and justify unethical behaviour, while maintaining a moral self image. Culture, values and norms as unconscious and conscious feelings are terms which have different, though not unrelated meanings and manifest themselves in human behaviour. In this article the significance of tensions between the organisational culture and the dynamics of ethical dilemmas inherent to public policing are discussed.