Ethics Training for Law Enforcement: A Study of Current Practices

    Dr. Frank Kardasz, December 2005

    The purpose of the descriptive study was to identify the single most preferred training tool for teaching ethics
    to law enforcement personnel. The research identified seven law enforcement ethics training tools, listed
    below - alphabetically.

    BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS:
    Includes text books and journal articles regarding law enforcement ethics.

    CASE STUDIES (of ethical dilemmas):
    Includes actual or hypothetical stories of ethical dilemmas experienced by law enforcement
    personnel.

    DECISION MAKING PROCESSES:
    Includes logic-based, step-by-step guidelines for selecting a proper course of conduct. Examples
    include the Bell, Book and Candle process, the A.C.T. (Alternatives, Consequences, Tell-your-story)
    process, the Stakeholder process and others.

    CODES OF ETHICS:
    Includes statements describing proper conduct, most often provided to the employee at the start of a
    law enforcement career.

    FILMS:
    Includes documentary and fiction films, movies and training videos with law enforcement ethics
    themes.

    PHILOSOPHIES AND PHILOSOPHERS:
    Includes the individual philosophers and their ideas regarding ethics.

    WHISTLEBLOWING:
    Includes reporting the misconduct of peers and colleagues.If sufficient training time were available,
    all of the preceding items would be presented to students. In practice, with little time dedicated to
    ethics, few of the above items can be provided to students. And there is no research to identify which
    one of the seven is considered most effective.

    In order to provide effective and efficient training in the subject of law enforcement ethics, the tools and
    subjects listed above must be identified in the order of their preferred importance. Once the preferred
    training tools are identified, ethics training can be developed to prioritize those tools that are recognized as
    the most effective.

    Purchase the book:
    Kardasz, F. (2008). Ethics training for law enforcement: Practices and trends.
    Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag.
    ISBN: 3639001567. ISBN-13: 9783639001563.
    Available from http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3639001567/
PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH

Dr. Frank Kardasz  P.O. Box 45048 Phoenix, AZ 85064
e-mail: kardasz@kardasz.org
blog: www.kardasz.org/blog/
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