LOCAL NEW JERSEY GOVERNMENT ONLY
No researchgate resources
Two police officers respond to a domestic violence complaint. Hearing noise inside the house, they break in, but it turns out they have entered the wrong home and should have gone to the house next door. They decide to cover their mistake and charge the man found in the house with a controlled dangerous substance violation and with resisting arrest. These are the same two police officers who allowed their pictures in uniform to be a part of the mayor’s campaign literature. The man they arrested files a complaint against the officers with the internal affairs office of the police department. However, the mayor asks the chief of police, who also worked in his campaign and whom he recently appointed, to “take it easy on the officers.” You are the first African American female police union official in your municipality. As such you must decide whether to provide a defense for the officers if charged. Both the mayor and chief must sign off on any discipline. You know of the conversations between the mayor and police chief and feel conflicted because you are aware that the officers are covering up their mistake and giving other officers a bad reputation. One of your options is to contact the county prosecutor. Contemporaneously, you are negotiating a new contract for your union that has to be approved by the mayor’s administration.
Define the issues, and select a course of action.
Explain your choice, and describe the options you considered.
Apply the applicable general laws to the facts and issues raised in the fact pattern.
Discuss the theories of ethics and morals from the vantage point of all major actors in the fact pattern
