Officers who are not afraid of testifying in court and/or making arrests in tense and intimidating settings. Officers who place themselves in danger intellectually and physically. Officers who do not abuse their position of authority or gain favouritisms due to their position. This must exist between officers and civilians, officers themselves, and officers and the courts. Officers with the ability to be relied upon for truth. Officers with the ability to decide the correct action to take when rules and policy are not present. Vichio suggests a list of core virtues that law enforcement personnel should possess (Fitch, 2014). The virtues listed above are attractive to law enforcement agencies, and people who demonstrate these virtues are those who law enforcement agencies and all other branches of public service want. Officers who, when confronted with difficult situations, stay calm and who are able to withstand pressure to react physically or verbally. Officers who are trustworthy and who can be counted on to speak the truth, even when the truth is embarrassing, or results in a not-guilty decision in a case that is important to the officer. Officers who offer themselves off duty by volunteering and who try to better the lives of others through community service. Officers who are able to empathize and sympathize with lawbreakers and victims and who understand that situations are complex and that everyone deserves respect. Officers who are not easily deterred from doing the right thing or investigating crimes. Officers who are willing to put themselves in harm’s way, in order to enforce the law, to protect people and property and to prevent crime. In a law enforcement context, society has expectations of officers who: When we look at some of these virtues collectively, we can see that they project attributes that we want law enforcement personnel to possess. Examples are wittiness, wisdom, and understanding.
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Within this context, Aristotle concentrated on virtues and vices. He used the word eudaimonia (from the Greek eu, “good,” and daimon, “spirit ” commonly translated as “happiness” or “welfare,” but more accurately as “human flourishing”) to express the state of well-being and living a flourishing life. The real question for Aristotle was not, “what should I do?” but rather “what type of person ought I be?” When our answer is that we ought to be a virtuous person, we are likely to act in a virtuous manner, and therefore in an ethical manner.Īristotle also spoke of flourishing in life, or living in a state of well-being. However, when faced with complex ethical dilemmas, the person who has demonstrated a life of good character will show good character, using temperance and intellect. Therefore, the good act is an automatic response requiring little thought. Rather, we do the right thing, or good thing, because of our good character as demonstrated throughout our life.
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In essence, we do not do good things because of an analysis of the end result or of an equation to decide how many people to help versus harm. For the purposes of law enforcement, the major foundation in virtue ethics is the idea that if you are a good person, you will do good things, and to be good, you must do good (Pollock, 2007). Virtue ethics has its historical background in ancient Greece and was primarily developed by Aristotle.