Chapter 3: Ethical Dilemmas and the Process of Effective Resolution
3.2 Values
Values are what guide an agency and its employees. Law enforcement agencies will have differing values depending on their function. An agency that investigates wildlife infractions may possess different values from correctional services.
Let’s take a look at various law enforcement agencies and the values they identify as being important on their websites.
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
- Integrity
- We exercise our authority in an honest, open and fair manner.
- We accept responsibility for our actions in order to build and maintain a reputation of trustworthiness and accountability.
- Respect
- We serve the public interest through non-partisan support of our Minister.
- We show the utmost appreciation for the dignity, diversity and worth of all people and uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
- We develop and sustain mutual trust with our colleagues.
- Professionalism
- We employ public resources wisely and properly.
- We provide efficient, competent and excellent service.
- We set high standards of achievement and accountability both individually and collectively.
BC Corrections[1]
- Integrity
- Taking responsibility for our actions
- Understanding how our actions can affect others
- Courage
- Doing what’s right and staying positive, not popular
- Trying something new, risking failure
- Leading by example
- Teamwork
- Coming together in times of crisis
- Mentoring
- Working with people in other departments for a common purpose
- Passion
- Sharing creative solutions with the leadership team
- Demonstrating pride in what we do
- Attempting to perform at a level we would expect of others
- Service
- Maintaining respectful relationships
- Working effectively with our justice partners
- Doing our job really well
- Curiosity
- Listening to new ideas
- Challenging the way we do business and being willing to try new ideas
- Seeking a better way to achieve our goals
- Accountability
- Being responsible for any action we take, and believing in ourselves
- Taking ownership for our actions
- Providing effective leadership and direction to our teams
Vancouver Police Department
The Vancouver Police Department has four core values, which they refer to as IPAR:
- Integrity
- Professionalism
- Accountability
- Respect
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) [2]
Recognizing the dedication of all employees, we will create and maintain an environment of individual safety, well-being and development. We are guided by:
- Integrity
- Honesty
- Professionalism
- Compassion
- Respect
- Accountability
When applying for a job with any law enforcement agency, it is important that the applicant understands the core values of that agency. The Vancouver Police website succinctly addresses the importance of knowing the agency’s stated core values and demonstrating a life lived where these values have been incorporated in day-to-day living:
These core values can’t be taught in any school, and they are non-negotiable for our applicants. Without these, it would be impossible to have a successful career with the VPD.
Values are not solely limited to what the agency believes are core values, but also include one’s personal and outside values. (Caldero and Crank, 2004). For example, applicants to the Vancouver Police Department should be aware of the agency’s values and demonstrate how they have incorporated these values into their everyday personal and professional life.
We are inclined to have similar values that are shared among other members of the agency. Values are important for law enforcement officers and should be shared and agreed upon by all members. These imparted values are concentrated throughout the agency and become part of the agency’s culture. Working with various constituents and members of other agencies also requires officers to consider their values. The Canada Border Services Agency articulates the full integration of values from various sectors of society in its values statement, which reads:
Values are a compass that guides us in everything we do; they represent what we believe and care about. Values cannot be considered in isolation from each other as they often overlap. We are expected to integrate public sector and CBSA values into our decisions, actions, policies, processes, systems, and how we deal with others. Similarly, we can expect to be treated in accordance with these values by our colleagues and management.
Let’s review a situation of differing values in a law enforcement case. As illustrated in the table below, in the case of an active shooter at a theatre, individuals involved in the shooting will have differing values.
| Role at the Theatre | Values |
|---|---|
| Single person | Hope, stamina, sobriety |
| Mother with child | Caring, concern, fortitude |
| Officer responding | Self-discipline, fortitude, courage |
| Follow-up detectives | Accountability, empathy, consideration |
Each person will have his or her own interests and goals, which reflect the values that are important to them at the time. The mother with her child is primarily concerned with the safety of her child, and must show caring to her child and the fortitude to protect her child in the face of danger. Conversely, the follow-up detectives sent to investigate the shooting have goals that include conducting a thorough investigation. They may share some of the values that the mother possesses, but for the investigation, they will likely possess values of accountability to the mother and other victims, as well as have empathy for all the victims’ families. When the situation changes, so too do the values that we possess.
The Ethics Resource Center (2009), located in Arlington, Virginia, identifies the following values as typical values that appear throughout codes of ethics. These are important for us to remember when faced with difficult ethical decisions where we are required to be aware of all the values of each of the vested stakeholders. Some ethical values include:[3]
| Acceptance | Favorable reception or belief in something |
|---|---|
| Accomplishment | Doing or finishing something successfully |
| Accountability | Obligation or willingness to accept responsibility |
| Adaptability | The ability to modify behavior to fit changing situations |
| Adventurousness | Inclination to undertake new and daring enterprises |
| Allegiance | Loyalty or the obligation of loyalty |
| Altruism | Unselfish concern for the welfare of others |
| Ambition | An eager or strong desire to achieve something |
| Appreciation | Recognizing the quality, value or significance of people and things |
| Aspiration | A strong or persistent desire for high achievement |
| Assiduousness | Unceasing; persistent; diligent |
| Authenticity | The quality or condition of being trustworthy or genuine |
| Autonomy | The condition or quality of being independent |
| Benevolence | An inclination to perform kind, charitable acts |
| Camaraderie | Goodwill and lighthearted rapport between or among friends |
| Caring | Feeling and exhibiting concern and empathy for others |
| Changeability | The ability to modify or adapt to differing circumstances |
| Charity | Generosity toward others or toward humanity |
| Chastity | The condition of being of virtuous character |
| Cheerfulness | The quality of being cheerful and dispelling gloom |
| Citizenship | Exercising the duties, rights, and privileges of being a citizen |
| Clear thinking | Acting intelligently without mental confusion |
| Collaboration | To work cooperatively especially in a joint intellectual effort |
| Commitment | Being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action or to another person or persons |
| Community | Sharing, participation, and fellowship with others |
| Compassion | Deep awareness of the suffering of others coupled with the wish to relieve it |
| Competence | The state or quality of being adequately or well qualified |
| Competitive | To strive to do something better than someone else |
| Composure | Maintaining a tranquil or calm state of mind |
| Concern | Regard for or interest in someone or something |
| Conscientiousness | The trait of being painstaking and careful |
| Consideration | Process of employing continuous, careful thought and examination |
| Consistency | Reliability or uniformity of successive results or events |
| Constancy | Steadfastness in purpose |
| Cooperation | The willing association and interaction of a group of people to accomplish a goal |
| Courage | The state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or vicissitudes with confidence and resolution |
| Courtesy | Civility; consideration for others |
| Credibility | The quality or power to elicit belief |
| Decency | Conformity to prevailing standards of propriety or modesty |
| Dedication | Selfless devotion of energy or time |
| Democracy | The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community |
| Dependability | The trait of being reliable |
| Determination | Firmness of will, strength, purpose of character |
| Diversity | A point of respect in which things differ; variety |
| Easygoing | Relaxed or informal in attitude or standards |
| Education | Obtaining or developing knowledge or skill through a learning process |
| Efficiency | The quality of producing an effect or result with a reasonable degree of effort to energy expended |
| Empathy | Identification with and understanding of another’s situation, feelings, and motives. |
| Encouragement | The act of incitement to action or to practice |
| Equality | The right of different groups of people to receive the same treatment |
| Equity | The state, quality, or ideal of being just, impartial, and fair |
| Ethics | The way people behave based on how their beliefs about what is right and wrong influence behavior |
| Excellence | State of possessing good qualities in an eminent degree |
| Fairness | Consistent with rules, logic, or ethics |
| Faith | Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing |
| Faithfulness | Adhering firmly and devotedly to someone or something that elicits or demands one’s fidelity |
| Fidelity | Faithfulness; loyalty or devotion |
| Flexibility | Responsive to change |
| Forgiveness | The willingness to stop blaming or being angry with someone |
| Fortitude | The strength or firmness of mind that enables a person to face danger, pain or despondency with stoic resolve |
| Friendship | A relationship between people based on mutual esteem and goodwill |
| Generosity | Liberality in giving or willingness to give |
| Gentleness | The quality of being mild and docile |
| Genuine | Not spurious or counterfeit |
| Giving | Voluntarily transferring knowledge or property without receiving value in return |
| Goodness | Morally right, or admirable because of kind, thoughtful, or honest behavior |
| Goodwill | A friendly attitude in which you wish that good things happen to people |
| Gratitude | A feeling of thankfulness and appreciation |
| Hardworking | Industrious and tireless |
| Helpfulness | The property of providing useful assistance or friendliness evidence by a kindly and helpful disposition |
| Honesty | Fairness and straightforwardness of conduct |
| Honor | Principled uprightness of character; personal integrity |
| Hope | The feeling that something desired can be had or will happen |
| Humility | Feeling that you have no special importance that makes you better than others |
| Industriousness | The characteristic of regularly working hard |
| Ingenuity | Inventive skill or imagination |
| Initiative | Ability to begin or to follow through energetically with a plan or task |
| Integrity | Strict adherence to moral values and principles |
| Joy | Intense or exultant happiness |
| Justice | Conformity to moral rightness in action or attitude |
| Kindness | The quality or state of being beneficent |
| Law-abiding | Abiding by the encoded rules of society |
| Liberty | The right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one’s own choosing. |
| Love | A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person or idea |
| Loyalty | A feeling or attitude of devotion, attachment and affection. |
| Mercy | Forgiveness shown toward someone whom you have the power to punish |
| Moderation | Having neither too little or too much of anything |
| Morals | Individual beliefs about what is right and wrong |
| Obedience | Compliance with that which is required; subjection to rightful restraint or control |
| Opportunity | Favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of circumstances |
| Optimism | A bright, hopeful view and expectation of the best possible outcome |
| Patience | The ability to accept delay, suffering, or annoyance without complaint or anger |
| Peace | Freedom from war or violence |
| Perseverance | Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose |
| Promise-keeping | Keeping your word that that you will certainly do something |
| Prudence | Doing something right because it is the right thing to do |
| Punctuality | Adherence to the exact time of a commitment or event |
| Purity | Moral goodness |
| Reason | The ability to think and make good judgments |
| Recognition | An acceptance as true or valid |
| Reconciliation | Enabling two people or groups [to] adjust the way they think about divergent ideas or positions so they can accept both |
| Reliability | Consistent performance upon which you can depend or trust |
| Repentance | Remorse or contrition for past conduct |
| Resilience | The ability to rebound quickly from misfortune or change |
| Resourcefulness | The ability to act effectively or imaginatively, especially in difficult situations |
| Respect | Polite attitude shown toward someone or something that you consider important |
| Responsibility | That for which someone is responsible or answerable |
| Righteousness | The state of being morally upright; without guilt or sin |
| Sacrifice | To give up something for something else considered more important |
| Self-control | Control of personal emotions, desires, or actions by one’s own will |
| Self-discipline | Making yourself do things when you should, even if you do not want to do them |
| Sensitivity | Awareness of the needs and emotions of others |
| Serenity | Calmness of mind and evenness of temper |
| Sharing | To allow others to participate in, use, enjoy, or experience jointly or in turns |
| Sincerity | Genuineness, honesty, and freedom from duplicity |
| Sobriety | Habitual freedom from inordinate passion or overheated imagination; calmness; coolness; seriousness |
| Stamina | The physical or mental strength to do something for a long time |
| Stewardship | The careful conducting, supervising, or managing of something |
| Supportive | Furnishing support or assistance |
| Thoughtfulness | The tendency to anticipate needs or wishes |
| Tolerance | Recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others |
| Tranquility | A state of calm and peacefulness |
| Trustworthiness | The trait of deserving confidence |
| Understanding | Knowing how something works or a positive, truthful relationship between people |
| Values | Core beliefs that guide and motivate attitudes and actions |
| Virtue | Doing something right because it is the good thing to do |
| Wisdom | The ability to make good judgments based on what you have learned from your experience |
| Work | Perform as intended or desired |
- © Province of British Columbia. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission of the Province of British Columbia. ↵
- This reproduction is a copy of an official work that is published by the Government of Canada and has not been produced in affiliation with, or with the endorsement of, the Government of Canada. From: Mission, Vision and Values ↵
- Copied in whole from the Ethics Resource Center. ↵
