Case Exercise 1: Ethics and Moral Duties
1. Describe the connection between ethics and moral duties, and then list 10 ethical values in order of their importance to you.
2. You are an officer of a SWAT team, and you have been notified by radio to proceed Code 3 to a location where there is an armed suspect barricaded with a hostage. You have taken a shortcut on a seldom-used narrow rural road. On your left side is a vertical canyon wall. On your right side is a vertical drop of 500 feet. Suddenly, a small child darts across your path. With insufficient braking time, you are faced with either killing the child and arriving at the SWAT operation in time to save the hostage, or sacrificing your life and possibly that of the hostage by swerving to miss the child and plunging over the side of the cliff. Write down your decision and why you made it.
a. Now imagine the same set of conditions except that you are driving the SWAT van and it contains all 20 members of your team. Does your decision change? If so, how? Write it down.
b. Again, imagine the same set of conditions except that you have only one member of the SWAT team in your car. Now what do you decide? Write it down. What moral standard or ethical program did you employ to make your decisions? Was it the same for each scenario?
Case Exercise 2: Goal Setting
This exercise will help you understand the significance of distinguishing between real and stated goals.
1. Describe the meaning of a goal, and explain what is meant by real goals and stated goals?
2. Imagine learning that you have to retire in one year from law enforcement. List 3 things you would like to accomplish during this last year.
a. Assume that 11 months have passed. List three things you would like to do in your last month.
b. Make a new list assuming that you have 1 week left and another assuming that you have only 48 hours left.
c. Examine what you have written. Do your lists include activities you are not currently pursuing? What is stopping you from pursuing them now? What can you do to get on track?