Professional Conduct and Ethics Flashcards

An informant offers an officer drugs as payment for tips. The officer should:

Answer: Refuse and report the offer

Accepting illegal goods is corruption; the officer must refuse and report it.

Which is the best example of upholding integrity when no one is watching?

Answer: Returning found cash to evidence even if unobserved

True integrity means doing the right thing even without oversight.

An officer uses a law enforcement database to look up an ex-partner's address. This is:

Answer: Misuse of official resources

Accessing databases for personal reasons is a misuse of official resources and often illegal.

When a supervisor orders an officer to perform a clearly illegal act, the officer should:

Answer: Refuse and report the unlawful order

Officers must not follow unlawful orders and should report them.

Accepting a holiday gift basket from a regulated business the officer oversees can create:

Answer: An appearance of impropriety and conflict

Gifts from regulated parties create at least the appearance of impropriety.

An officer rounds up overtime hours not actually worked. This conduct is:

Answer: Time theft and falsification

Claiming unworked hours is theft and falsification of records.

Ethical decision-making models in policing typically encourage officers to ask whether an action is:

Answer: Legal, fair, and able to withstand public scrutiny

Sound ethical tests ask if an action is lawful, fair, and defensible if made public.