i

ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT – BALANCING USE

OF FORCE AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

Submitted to:

Elizabeth Lewis
Instructor, English Department

Submitted by:

John Doe
Computer Science Student
December 12, 2010
 ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY...................................................................................................................................iii
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................1
THE ETHICAL DILEMMA: BALANCING USE OF FORCE AND INDIVIDUAL
RIGHTS..........................................................................................................................................1
ETHICAL ISSUES IN USE OF FORCE BY LAW ENFORCEMENT...................................2
Human Rights vs. Public Safety...............................................................................................2
Accountability and Oversight...................................................................................................2
APPROACHES AND OPTIONS FOR ADDRESSING THE DILEMMA..............................3
Minimal Force Doctrine............................................................................................................3
De-escalation Training..............................................................................................................3
Technological and Policy Solutions..........................................................................................4
PROPOSED SOLUTION AND PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE................................................4
WORKS CITED............................................................................................................................6
 iii

SUMMARY

Law enforcement officers often face the complex challenge of balancing the use of force
with respecting individual rights. In high-stress situations, they must come up with relatively
swift decisions known to produce lasting effects that may involve balancing the need to
safeguard public safety as a measure of preventing and reducing aggression on one hand, with
the virtue of human rights on the other.

This dilemma raises essential ethical issues, such as finding the right balance between
enforcing the law and maintaining community trust, as well as ensuring transparency and
accountability within policing. Solutions such as de-escalation training, minimal force policies,
and body cameras have been proposed as ways to reign the police. This ensures that they receive
the best resources and instruction for safely disrupting the action while visually confirming that
citizens’ rights do not prejudge any particular race, sex, age, or ethnicity.

However, in the application of these strategies, there needs to be a balance where ethical
requirements are exercised to address fair and responsible decision making. This approach seeks
to do so while maintaining social order and simultaneously protecting the civil liberties of
guiltless citizens, and attempt to meet the ethical concerns which are inherent in the occupation
of policing.
.
 1

INTRODUCTION

The use of force by law enforcement officers is an ethical issue where officers are mandated to

choose between the danger of their lives or the lives of the community and the use of force on

those people. In high-stakes situations, they are always called upon to make decisions that have

long-lasting impacts within very short spans of time. The ethical decision makers relate to the

level of force to use since using high force results in violation of human rights while low force

results in loss of lives. This report shall also present how force is utilized, the efforts made, and

the difficulties encountered in seeking to balance the provision of safety for society and the

respect of individual liberties.

THE ETHICAL DILEMMA: BALANCING USE OF FORCE AND

INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

Police officers face the dilemma of the force to apply anytime they are executing their duties in

conditions that may prompt violence. The application of excessive force is likely to cause human

rights abuses, but the application of inadequate force could endanger the lives of the police and

the normally innocent civilians who may be in the vicinity (Cawthray, Prenzler and Porter). This

balancing act is a huge ethical dilemma because it places officers in a position where they must

make high stakes decisions rapidly while they can only know in part what they are up against in

terms of threat level or suspect intent. In such moments, the interest to protect the community

might conflict with the interest in the rights of the people, especially civilians or those having

mental health issues who do not fully comprehend the conformations or threats sent to them.
 2

This dilemma is further complicated by the questions arising from consistency and fairness of the

use of force. Officers are supposed to use similar principles in a range of circumstances, but

every context is distinct; decisions which are made may be reviewed by the broader society as

well as the organizational regulatory bodies (Cawthray, Prenzler and Porter). When citizens are

more likely to conduct scrutiny, especially when some instances of perceived abuse of force are

well documented in media, officers may experience elevated levels of risk which hamper their

performance of protective functions. Therefore, it is still challenging to meet such opposite

requirements, the freedom of an individual, and concern for the safety of people, which makes

the present ethical issue in the framework of law enforcement one of the most significant.

ETHICAL ISSUES IN USE OF FORCE BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

Human Rights vs. Public Safety

Another complex area of ethical concern in force employments by the police is the protection of

human rights in relation to protection of the society. On one hand, every person has a right to

personal dignity and is protected by human rights law all over the world. Such behaviors escalate

in ruthlessness and tend to create gross human rights abuses, especially on the minority, and

result in loss of credibility (Salerno and Sanchez). On the other hand, officers are supposed to

serve the public, and they have to take positions where they have to make split decisions in order

to eliminate threats.

Accountability and Oversight

Accountability and oversight are crucial in maintaining ethical standards within law

enforcement, particularly in relation to the use of force. Some measures include discouraging the

use excessive force through objectives like body worn cameras that enhance police transparency.
 3

Police supervision avoids misuse of authority and enhances the public’s confidence in the police

force because officers can be made to answer for their conduct (Taylor). However, to ensure

accountability is not easy; officers are under pressure most of the time and make decisions in

microseconds, thus resulting in mistakes.

APPROACHES AND OPTIONS FOR ADDRESSING THE DILEMMA

Minimal Force Doctrine

The minimal force doctrine is supportive of training the officers the use minimal force sufficient

in containing a situation whereby physical force is deemed necessary. From an ethical

perspective, respect for human dignity underlies this focused risk management orientation and

minimizes the risk of further harm to persons when responding (Taylor). By adopting this

approach, it makes the officers to consider the environment and level of violence in the incident

rather than to employ force. However, the minimal force doctrine also has some weakness.

Whereas in high-risk situations, the level of force required may be difficult to assess as a result

of unpredictable actions of the subject and little time for evaluation of force options.

De-escalation Training

De-escalation training teaches officers techniques to calm potentially volatile encounters,

focusing on communication skills and non-confrontational tactics to reduce the likelihood of

physical conflict. This training is ethically relevant because it conforms to the principle that

intended negative consequences for persons should be minimized and harmless interactions

within the society encouraged. Teaching officers tactics or methods on how to avoid the use

force, it will help state bureaus that deal with police work keep good relations with the public

stating goals of success as opposed to power (Salerno and Sanchez). However, these skills are
 4

best learned by practicing where there can be a need to provide constant reinforcement of these

skills depending on the experience and personality of the officer involved.

Technological and Policy Solutions

Technologies like body-worn cameras and clear policies on use of force serve as tools to enhance

accountability and transparency in law enforcement. Some forms of use of force are intimately

captured by body cameras that give a neutral account thus encouraging police officers to

conform to ethical standards and discouraging the commission of any misconduct (Worden and

McLean). Those that dictate how force is to be applied also provide a guideline within which the

officers work under a principle of fairness and what passes as ethical data. These solutions help

build the trust between the police and the community through enhancing the concept of the

oversight mechanism. However, the utilization of such technologies and policies requires

logistics and funding, and there are issues of privacy and use of technology in critical moments.

PROPOSED SOLUTION AND PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

Considering the sides of arguments, a middle-ground approach that takes the minimal force

doctrine, improved de-escalation training, and accountability along with clear policies seem like

the most reasonable solutions to the problem. Some of the ways that can ensure actions are kept

within a range where possible harm to the perpetrators is minimized while providing the officers

the agility necessary to handle an assorted of scenarios include training the officers to shoot to

kill as a last resort and teaching them on how to use minimal force (Gillette). Such resultant

measurements include body worn cameras and ensuring that the use of force is within the

provided standards which are both ethical and procedural.

 5

I believe it is appropriate to employ such an approach as it respects ethical norms at the same

time being feasible from the perspective of law enforcers. These techniques complement each

other to handle the diverse situations to focus on the principle of human rights. Policies that

support transparency along with training also coupled with technology helps in establishing

organizational culture of accountability and public trust, they ensure that everyone knows that

officers are dedicated to both safety and respect for human dignity (Engel, McManus and

Herold.).

CONCLUSION

The ethical dilemma of balancing use of force with individual rights in law enforcement is

complex, involving conflicting imperatives of public safety and respect for personal freedoms.

Policies include minimal force doctrine, de-escalation training, and technical approach to include

body worn cameras. The suggested balanced approach is intended to adopt these methods as the

methods that allow providing officers with ethical and practical tools that will enable responsible

decision making. Finally, the problem of how safety and rights intersect in policing is obvious to

bring about a just police-citizen relationship.

 6

WORKS CITED

Cawthray, Tyler, Tim Prenzler and Louise E Porter. "Updating international law enforcement

ethics: International codes of conduct." Criminal Justice Ethics (2013): 187-209.

Engel, Robin S., Hannah D. McManus and Tamara D. Herold. "Does de‐escalation training

work? A systematic review and call for evidence in police use‐of‐force reform."

Criminology & Public Policy (2020): 721-759.

Gillette, S. L. A Prima Facie Approach to Ethics in Law Enforcement: A Phenomenological

Study of Municipal Police Chiefs Resolving Moral Dilemmas Within Their Command.

Johnson University, 2021.

Salerno, Jessica M. and Justin Sanchez. "Subjective interpretation of “objective” video evidence:

Perceptions of male versus female police officers’ use-of-force." Law and human

behavior (2020): 97.

Taylor, P. L. "Beyond false positives: A typology of police shooting errors." Criminology &

Public Policy (2019): 807-822.

—. "Dispatch priming and the police decision to use deadly force." Police Quarterly (2020):

311-332.

Worden, R. E. and S. J. McLean. "Research on police legitimacy: The state of the art." Policing:

An International Journal (2017): 480-513.