The police system is a universal hierarchy that has the purpose to control the criminal world and ensure the citizens’ safety. Most police officers, when starting the education, decide to devote their lives to serving people within the framework of ethical values, norms, and principles. Notably, Immanuel Kant’s deontological ethical theory can be effectively applied to regulate the actions of police officers as it protects universal maxims. This paper aims to critically evaluate how deontological ethics may apply to modern policing ethical practices.
The deontological ethical theory was developed by Immanuel Kant, who lived from 1724 to 1804. The philosopher made a revolutionary impact on the ethical and philosophical discourse. His most prominent works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics include the doctrine of transcendental idealism and The Critique of Pure Reason, where Kant criticizes the skepticism of David Hume. In The Critique of Pure Reason, he attempted to explain the relationship between reason and human experience, overcoming dogmatic tendencies in philosophy and metaphysics.
Notably, Kant’s deontological ethical theory or Kant’s categorical imperative describes the process of making ethical decisions and can serve as a criterion for police officers. This theory postulates that all moral obligations can be summed up by an ultimate moral principle of the categorical imperative. The Universal Law formulation of categorical imperative says that a person should act only according to that maxim which, in their opinion, could become a universal law. At the same time, ‘deontological’ means that theory focuses on moral duties, not the consequences of actions.
How can this categorical imperative be applied to modern policing ethical practices? Scholars provide a wide variety of topics that bring evidence to how Kant’s principle is currently utilized in the police. For instance, Brown and Silvestri (2020) refer to the gender equality and ratio changes in the police, saying that reforms improve policing styles by putting greater emphasis on care ethics, even though feminization power and impacts remain rather fragile. In other words, the gender equality practices that are becoming more widespread in the U.S. police departments correspond to the ultimate moral principle of the categorical imperative.
Interestingly, this can be also said about many other practices that aim to improve the work of police officers. Williams and Kind (2019) explore how data-driven policing can ‘hardwire’ the anti-discriminatory practices across Europe. The scholars admit that data-driven policing is helpful to overcome racism, supports data privacy, and non-discrimination, and is crucial for collective resistance and knowledge (Williams & Kind, 2019). This means that data-driven technologies are widely applied to meet the universal purposes under Kant’s categorical imperative.
No less important, the training and education of police officers make a considerable input to the protection of moral principles in the police. The scholars suggest that the development of cognitive, emotional, social, and moral skills in police officers is intended to improve officers’ well-being and establish better relationships with local communities (Blumberg et al., 2019). In other words, the general tendencies promoting the developmental approach and the current general focus on the ongoing education of police officers are perfectly aligned with Kant’s ethical deontological theory.
Thus, this paper critically evaluated how deontological ethics applies to modern policing ethical practices. The practices of gender equality, data-driven strategies, well-established training, and education of police officers are practices that are aligned with the deontological ethical theory. Of course, this theory can have a wider application, such as being used as a moral imperative for individual daily workplace decisions for detectives and patrolling officers. However, the current developmental practices introduced in policing meet the values presented in Kant’s deontological ethical theory.
Unethical Behavior and Police Work
Unethical behavior can be seen in all kinds of social situations. Scholars widely study why people act unethically, including employee and consumer behavior. For instance, Nikolova et al. (2018) say that consumers who act in dyads that do not have social bonds behave more unethically than individuals. Moreover, Sun and Zhang (2019) admit that group behavior and social acceptance increase the chances of unethical behavior. This paper aims to discuss, why individuals behave unethically, and how the academic discourse in this regard applies to the unethical conduct of police officers.
To start with, unethical behavior in employees or consumers should not be considered as something irresistible or requiring immediate punishment. On the contrary, such behavior should be analyzed from the perspective of underlying motives and reasons. For example, Yang et al. (2020) note that self-compassion can decrease unethical behavior since it is closely related to lower levels of moral disengagement. This means that people can behave unethically if they lack the motivation to act ethically, which is if they are showing high levels of moral disengagement. No less important, scholars say that self-compassion not only contributes to psychological well-being but also has social benefits that should be studied in more detail (Yang et al., 2020). Therefore, scientists imply that the causes of unethical behavior are related to psychological or emotional problems. Even though the latter can arise for many reasons, all types of unethical behavior can be corrected by developing the skill of love and compassion for oneself.
Notably, police officers are involved in unethical practices of varying severity, ranging from mild to criminal violations of professional ethics, codes of conduct, and work responsibilities. The Black Lives Matter movement would never have arisen if the police had not killed unarmed Black citizens who did not give reasons for the aggressive behavior. It is not uncommon for police officers to commit less horrendous deviations from ethical behavior.
For example, police officers may use some of the imperfections of the legislative system to achieve the goals of investigations or exceed the authority during interrogations. Considering the observations presented by Nikolova et al. (2018) and Sun and Zhang (2019), police officers are likely to behave more ethically when working alone or with alternating partners. Also, given the observations of scientists, police officers are likely to be the least ethical towards citizens in large groups, that is, while in police stations. Therefore, working procedures must take into account the propensity of people to violate ethical norms under the pressure of groups and because of the desire to gain recognition and create informal social bonds. In this regard, the alternation of partners will lead to the actualization of the element of socialization in dyads, which will reduce the number of unethical practices, although it may have side negative consequences.
Thus, it was discussed, why individuals behave unethically, and how this applies to the unethical conduct of police officers. Individual work can be more effective, despite the common belief that people behave more ethically when someone is watching them. This rule does not apply to internal informal relationships in dyads or groups. Therefore, to reduce cases of unethical behavior, it is necessary to introduce working practices to control the behavior of police officers in groups and dyads and expand opportunities for individual work.
References
Blumberg, D. M., Schlosser, M. D., Papazoglou, K., Creighton, S., & Kaye, C. C. (2019). New directions in police academy training: A call to action. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 4941.
Brown, J., & Silvestri, M. (2020). A police service in transformation: Implications for women police officers. Police Practice and Research, 21(5), 459-475.
Nikolova, H., Lamberton, C., & Coleman, N. V. (2018). Stranger danger: When and why consumer dyads behave less ethically than individuals. Journal of Consumer Research, 45(1), 90-108.
Sun, Y., & Zhang, J. (2019). Acquiescence or resistance: Group norms and self-interest motivation in unethical consumer behaviour. Sustainability, 11(8), 2190.
Williams, P., & Kind, E. (2019). Data-driven Policing: The hardwiring of discriminatory policing practices across Europe. European Network Against Racism (ENAR), 1-37.
Yang, Y., Guo, Z., Wu, J., & Kou, Y. (2020). Self-compassion relates to reduced unethical behavior through lower moral disengagement. Mindfulness, 11(6), 1424-1432.