After graduating with your degree in Criminology, you put yourself through a Basic Police Academy. While in the academy, you passed all the tests and were hired by a medium size sheriffs department in California. This agency is an old traditional style law enforcement organization. The Sheriff of this department is a very powerful political figure in the county and has been known to take care of his political "friends" when they get into trouble. Beyond this, the agency is considered to be a fairly good law enforcement organization that pays its employees well. Most of the people you meet appear to be very dedicated and professional.

When you join the sheriffs department, after graduating from the Basic Police Academy, you are assigned to the Patrol Division and a Field Training Officer (FT0) for the 12 week Field Training Program. Your first FTO is a very experienced officer who you respect and admire.

During your first week on the job, you respond Code "3" to a domestic disturbance call in which the daughter reports that her step-father is beating and kicking her mother. Upon arrival at this call you can plainly see that the wife has been injured. She has several cuts on her face and her face is discolored. Her clothing is torn and she has marks on her arms that appear to have been caused by being kicked with a pair of boots. The husband immediately flashes a deputy sheriff's badge and identification. You determine that the husband is not a deputy sheriff, but is a close friend and political contributor of the Sheriffs and was given the badge to use if he was in trouble. The husband demands that you call the Sheriff, even though it is 1 AM. You notify the watch commander and approximately 10 minutes later, the watch commander advises you not to make an arrest and write a simple battery crime report. You know that this is not the correct actions to take and your FTO tells you to forget it, there is nothing he can do. The FTO seems very angry about this and explains that this type of situation happens frequently with the "friends" of the Sheriff. He is angry because he earned his "badge" and risks his life every day to protect the community. But the Sheriff gives the badges away as if they were candy to his political cronies. Be careful, the FTO warns you, when dealing with "friends" of the Sheriff, they can get away with murder and the Sheriff will protect them. Over the next 12 weeks your involved with four more incidents of "friends" of the Sheriff who are committing acts that would result in their arrest or a citation. But each time you are told to let them go and take no actions. After you completed your Field Training Program, you start patrolling on your own. On the third night you stop a driver under the influence of alcohol, who has just hit a pedestrian crossing the street in a cross-walk. The driver of the vehicle attempts to flee the scene, but you chase her down and arrest her. She tells you that she is a "friend" of the Sheriff and sure enough she has a deputy's badge. She demands you call the Sheriff. You advise your supervisor of this and she calls the watch commander. Twenty minutes later the watch commander arrives at the scene. lie tells you there will be no arrest and you are not to write in your report that the suspect was intoxicated while driving. The watch commander tells you he will take the suspect and drive her home, per the Sheriff's request. You loudly protest this and are told bluntly by the watch commander that if you do not go along you will be immediately fired!!!

After seeing all of these incidents, you cannot sit back and do nothing any longer. You know that these actions on the part of the Sheriff are not only unprofessional, but in several cases illegal. You have chosen to take action, but WHAT DO YOU DO NOW!!!

Your Assignment

1. Clearly and concisely DEFINE THE PROBLEM.

2. THOROUGHLY IDENTIFY AND DISCUSS all of the possible ALTERNATIVES you could use to solve this ethical/professional problem.

3. For each alternative you have selected, you must accurately FORECAST ALL OF THE POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES (pro and con) of each alternative.

4. Lastly, you must state clearly which alternative (or combination of alternatives) you would select to solve this problem and you must then CLEARLY DEFEND YOUR CHOICE!

Things the assignment needs to achieve.

1. Did you adequately describe and define the problem?

2. Did you fully develop all of the alternatives available to you and fully detail the consequences of each?

3. Did you provide a logical, well thought-out explanation of which alternative (s) you would use to solve this professional decision and did you provide a clear and concise defense of that choice?

4. Is your paper typed, double spaced, neat, use excellent grammar and spelling, and is it presented in a logical manner free from fragmented sentence structure or thought?

You must follow the APA Publication Manual of Style. As per the APA Manual, you must include a cover page, and reference page citing your sources. Abstract is not needed.

The four page (Minimum 1200 words) requirement does not include Cover page and Reference page. Minimum 1200 words.

Be very careful with grammar and plagiarism!!!