JIBC Law Enforcement Applied Ethics 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An officer is offered a bribe by a suspect to overlook a minor offence. The most ethically and legally correct response is to:
- Decline the bribe and issue the original charge, then report the bribe attempt (Correct answer)
- Decline the bribe and let the suspect go as a warning
- Accept the bribe and donate it to charity
- Report the bribe attempt only if it happens a second time
Correct answer: Decline the bribe and issue the original charge, then report the bribe attempt
Declining the bribe, proceeding with lawful action, and reporting the attempt upholds both integrity and the law.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes the ethical problem with 'testilying' (officers giving false testimony)?
- It violates union agreements about officer conduct
- It undermines the justice system and constitutional rights of the accused (Correct answer)
- It is only problematic if the accused is ultimately innocent
- It creates administrative burden for prosecutors
Correct answer: It undermines the justice system and constitutional rights of the accused
False testimony by officers corrupts judicial proceedings and violates the accused's right to a fair trial.
Question 3: An officer's personal social media post expresses biased views about a group they regularly police. This is ethically concerning primarily because:
- Social media use is prohibited during working hours
- It signals bias that could affect impartial enforcement and damage public trust (Correct answer)
- Officers are not permitted to have public social media accounts
- It may embarrass the officer's supervisor
Correct answer: It signals bias that could affect impartial enforcement and damage public trust
Expressed bias on social media can undermine public confidence in that officer's ability to police impartially.
Question 4: The ethical duty of 'veracity' in policing most closely means officers must:
- Verify every piece of evidence before acting
- Be truthful in all professional communications and testimony (Correct answer)
- Validate community concerns before enforcement action
- Vary their patrol routes to prevent predictability
Correct answer: Be truthful in all professional communications and testimony
Veracity requires officers to be consistently truthful, as deception in professional contexts erodes institutional integrity.
Question 5: When police use surveillance technology (e.g., facial recognition), the key ethical tension is between:
- Operational efficiency and officer safety
- Public safety objectives and individual privacy rights (Correct answer)
- Budget limitations and technological capability
- Federal jurisdiction and municipal policing authority
Correct answer: Public safety objectives and individual privacy rights
Surveillance technology creates tension between crime prevention goals and the right to privacy and freedom from unwarranted state monitoring.
Question 6: A utilitarian ethical analysis of a controversial police tactic would ask:
- Does this tactic follow established rules regardless of outcome?
- Does this tactic produce the greatest good for the greatest number? (Correct answer)
- Does this tactic align with the personal virtues of officers?
- Does this tactic reflect a social contract between police and community?
Correct answer: Does this tactic produce the greatest good for the greatest number?
Utilitarianism evaluates actions by whether they maximize overall benefit, making outcomes the central moral criterion.
Question 7: The principle of 'accountability' in law enforcement ethics requires that officers:
- Account for all equipment issued to them at end of shift
- Be answerable for their decisions and actions to oversight bodies and the public (Correct answer)
- Maintain detailed accounting records for departmental budgets
- Account for the time spent on each call for service
Correct answer: Be answerable for their decisions and actions to oversight bodies and the public
Accountability means officers must justify their conduct to supervisors, oversight bodies, and the public they serve.
JIBC Law Enforcement Applied Ethics 5
An officer is offered a bribe by a suspect to overlook a minor offence.
The most ethically and legally correct response is to: