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| NEWS > 11 July 2009 |
Other related articles:
Excluding evidence doesn't mak
What should the courts do when police officers violate a suspect's rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms -- keep the resulting evidence out of court and risk letting a criminal walk free? Or admit the evidence and risk signalling to police that it's perfectly OK to trample suspects' rights in future?
The Charter itself says such evidence must be excluded if admitting it "would bring the administration of justice into disrepute."
This seems to me like a reasonable rule, and in many cases its outcome would be obvious. A confession obtained by torture, for instance, wo... Read more
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Independent Online - Cape Town
11 July 2009
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Ethics in Policing
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South Africa: Building a bette
By Wendy Addison
With the Selebi saga appearing to be coming to an end, South Africans have good reason to fear the awesome power granted to police officers. It is timeous and appropriate for citizens of South Africa to demand that these government officials adhere to the strictest of ethical standards in carrying out their duties.
No other government official has such direct power to regularly deprive the average citizen of their liberties.
No other government official legally holds and regularly uses the power to detain citizens, search their personal belongings, use physical force against them or otherwise deprive them of their normal liberties.
How can South Africans ensure that police officers take this responsibility seriously when we are constantly reminded of how many rotten apples we have wielding such power?
A popular debate within police ethics literature centres on the question of whether corruption and misconduct are the result of rotten apples, or a rotten barrel. Was Selebi the rotten apple, or was there deeper rot in the barrel?
Departments with widespread problems usually suffer from both. Improved ethics training may begin to repair the rotten barrel over time, but rotten apples can be avoided if police agencies devote a great deal of effort on the front end by carefully selecting individuals of good character and by providing consistent ethics training and monitoring.
Once our force has hired new officers of good moral character who want to do the right thing, these individuals must be taught what is right and what is wrong.
Leaving them to rely on their own personal moral values, common sense or religious principles will fail them in the complex and often contradictory world of policing.
Current ethics training seems to recognise this, but relies too heavily on an outcome-based system of vague oaths and codes, coupled with specific lists of things that are prohibited by laws and departmental policies.
Most officers who want to do the right thing realise that they should not engage in serious criminal conduct.
But what about the more subtle questions that erode the level of trust that citizens have in the police?
Officers and police administrators grapple daily with questions that have ethical implications.
What if different factions in the community make opposing demands on police? Why can't officers accept half-price meals? What is the public trust? When is it permissible to lie to a suspect? What should an officer do if he/she pulls over an off-duty officer?
Is it wrong for an officer to run personal errands within his/her jurisdiction while working? What is expected of an officer who observes a co-worker doing something wrong?
Does an officer have to wear a seatbelt in the cruiser if he/she never gives seatbelt tickets to citizens? Are officers permitted to let a person's circumstances influence whether or not the person is charged with a crime, or must every citizen be treated exactly the same?
Can police officers overlook some crimes that are committed in their presence? Can officers take a quick nap on midnight shift if their dispatchers know where they are and can wake them up if there is a call for service?
What weapons are police administrators obligated to provide the officers to ensure they have everything they need to use the appropriate levels of force?
These are just a few of the more common dilemmas that officers and police administrators face.
Officers could choose the wrong course of action in many of these scenarios and yet not violate any law or department policy.
There is no way to write a policy for each dilemma an officer will face. John Kleinig calls these situations "the murky middle".
"Yet morally responsible decision-making is more than a matter of 'following the rules', or even of resorting to established procedures. The rules may not be sufficiently nuanced or entirely compatible. Judgment is required," he observes (Kleinig 2002, 287).
Citizens agree to give up their power to enforce their own rights to the government and trust that the government will use this power to benefit the public.
If a government is ineffective at securing the basic rights of life, liberty and property, then the people owe no allegiance to it.
Authors Cohen and Feldberg's five moral standards for police can be viewed as both ideals to strive for and minimum requirements.
The following is a brief summary of Cohen and Feldberg's five standards of ethical policing from their book titled Power and Restraint: the Moral Dimension of Police Work.
Fair access: Social contract theory and the principle of justice informs police in this area by reminding officers that all citizens have agreed to transfer to government their own power to enforce their basic rights.
Therefore, all citizens have a right to the services of the police.
Public trust: Through the social contract, the public has given police the authority to act on its behalf and the power to take actions that are no longer permitted to private citizens.
The public also trusts that the police will use this awesome power for the public good, and not for personal gain.
Safety and security: Police must undertake enforcement activities within the framework of maintaining safety and security and should avoid unreflective enforcement of the law. Overzealous enforcement has the potential to make society less safe and secure.
Teamwork: Police are an extension of one branch of government and represent only one part of the criminal justice system.
The behaviour of police officers must meet the tests of teamwork - co-ordination, communication and co-operation.
Objectivity: Police work is a social role that requires officers to demonstrate objectivity while serving as society's referees.
This ethical standard cautions the officer against using personal feelings as the basis for official police action and against the two extremes of becoming overinvolved or cynical.
Together, these five ethical standards provide a decision-making framework for the everyday dilemmas that police face.
They can be used to guide the broad discretion that officers are given.
Cohen and Feldberg are careful to point out that more than one morally sound outcome may exist for each dilemma, and in other situations, there may be no available option that will satisfy each of the five standards.
The authors also acknowledge that efforts at fulfilling one standard completely will often result in diminishing the officer's capacity to fulfil another standard. At times trade-offs must be made, because the standards are interrelated. The situation will dictate which standard is most important in resolving the dilemma.
In discussions around ethics and effective policing, Pagon (2003) observed the following: "It has become obvious that only properly educated and trained police officers are able to respond adequately to moral and ethical dilemmas of their profession.
"Only a police officer who is able to solve these dilemmas appropriately can perform his duties professionally and to the benefit of the community.
"In doing so, he cannot rely solely on his intuition and experience. Not only has he to be well- acquainted with the principles of police ethics and trained in moral reasoning and ethical decision-making, he also needs clear standards of ethical conduct in his profession."
I urge all government departments to focus on teaching individuals to apply their critical thinking skills to situations they will experience in their jobs and personal lives.
Wendy Addison is a Cape Town author and ethics coach
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