Much has been written about the proper execution of police discretion, values, and the decision-making processes associated with crime fighting. Because policing is such a unique profession, wherein street-level supervision is limited, much emphasis is placed on the personal and professional integrity of the men and the women tasked with policing neighborhoods. Furthermore, there has been a much-heralded training emphasis in the last decade regarding the ethical dilemmas officers face on a daily basis. Police ethics training is not novel in its conceptual application, but it must continue to evolve as policing continues to evolve. Contradictions in training, at times, regarding whose values are to be enforced through the application of governmental authority, must be organizationally clarified. This confusion, and failure at times, comes from a misapplication of the police mission and the police values and a misunderstanding of privacy expectations. Misapplications in training and supervision create a street-level environment rife with cutting corners, unethical rationalizations, and liability.
| Editor’s note: This article is the third in a four-part series of privacy-related articles that appears in Police Chief magazine. Articles previously published in this series are Thomas J. Martinelli and Joseph A. Schafer, “Updating Ethics Training—Policing Privacy Series: Taking Race out of the Perception Equation” (January 2011): 18–22; and Thomas J. Martinelli, “Updating Ethics Training—Policing Privacy Series: Respecting Society’s Evolving Privacy Expectations” (February 2011): 70–76. |
