Introduction

Code of ethics cuts across all aspects of the workplace. It acts as a guideline in which employees are expected to maintain with clients and partners. Herein outlines consequences for behavioral violation with varying severity levels –major, minor and severe (Eckerd et al., 2013). Unlike the major ones that are more escalated, addressing minor violations with a written warning or an initial verbal. However, more strict consequences are suffered if these offenses are repeated frequently. Unexplained absences, unprofessional or inappropriate language with clients or colleagues are a few examples of minor violations.

Major violations such as abuse of power and misuse of resources are more significant and attract harsher penalties. Employees could be denied some privileges or stripped of some duties. Severe violations are terminable offenses, worse than the major ones. They result in a demotion if not firing the employee. Destroying property, sexual harassment, issuing physical threats are a few examples of severe violations of the conduct code. Thus, without the Code of Ethics, it would be impossible to lay bare the systematic approach to address violations in the workplace whenever they may occur. Below is an action plan to implement the Code of Ethics in the Small Town police department to create awareness, enforce methods for violations, and improve officers’ training.

Ethical Violations

Acting in a manner contrary to the set Code of Ethics outlined is a violation. According to a study done by Biermeier-Hanson and Coyle (2019), about 49% of employees have witnessed unethical conduct in the workplace yet do not report them. Colleagues are reluctant to note, especially when they are not able to do it anonymously. In law enforcement, numerous ethical issues arise, including the violation of municipal, provincial, or federal statutes. Some of these issues are not that simple to identify at times, and if specified, they are open to interpretation. Thus, having a critical perspective when dealing with such issues is vital in establishing whether they are ethical or unethical.

Police officers are required and expected to adhere to law enforcement ethics as outlined by the code of ethics written in 1957 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (Mize, 2019). One of the five ethical issues revolving around law enforcement is off-duty life. An officer is bound to a high standard that requires their integrity to be reflected by their personal lives. In other words, since they are always under public scrutiny, they must maintain a consistent professional image at all times. Moreover, their position of power is held by the trust earned from the public. Unlike other jobs that end when individuals clock out, police officers have to adhere to the law and maintain their social respect level at all times. Those with little respect for the badge or the law put them in a position of conflict with society.

Secondly, the 20 sworn police officers in Small Town indicate that they took an oath to uphold the law. Also, they bound themselves to defend an individual’s constitutional rights despite other times where this may seem contradictory. For instance, the drug laws and the drug wars create contradictions since officers are forced to act so that the state should have priority rather than the individual. When an individual is caught with marijuana, they could be imprisoned, pay fines, get dismissed from their job, lose their reputation in society, or even custody their children. In such a case, the right to life and liberty cannot be considered since they violate the law if they are not arrested and charged for the offense.