In life we are all overburdened with responsibilities and obligations to someone or to something. Often times, it is difficult to determine the boundary lines between the representation of oneself, and the representation to the entity with which we are bound. The distinction between personal time and company time is one that is important and must be adhered to. If this careful balance is not carried out in a correct manor it will become difficult to prevent conflicts of interests in ones life.
To illustrate the point I am making, I want to think about what it would be like for an off duty Police Officer to enter the house of a Family Friend who is partaking in illegal acts.
Would the Police Officer still be obligated to report her friend regardless of the fact that she is off duty? Does the simple yet intimate gesture of inviting a person into ones house mean that all responsibilities and prior duties are left at the door?
I feel that it does. The time spent off duty for a Police Officer is personal time. The Officers commitment to her department when she is not in the act of being an employee is hers to do what she will with. In a way, the act of entering an individuals house as a friend negates all other binding relationships which, may or may not, obstruct the current circumstances. The Police Officers current bond to the Family Friend outweighs all others and takes priority.
However, should the Police Officer feel an undeniable bond to law and the authority which supports her, she of course has the choice to report the criminal acts.
To sum up these thoughts, the Police Officer has no moral obligation to report her friend based on occupational loyalties. But, if she does feel the need to report these criminal acts because of her own ethical views, then she is correct in doing so. Her decision making should be centered around her own feelings and opinions, without influence from outside forces and pressures.
This moral dilemma is one that haunts me to the core. The prospect of being faced with such a difficult and morally deep issue makes me fear the possibility of an authoritative occupation. I guess now I just have to pray that one is not coming up in my horizon!
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2 comments:
Your posts are very interesting. Your analysis is pretty convincing here - if we put it in more explicitly sociological language, we might say the police officer is bound by the roles and duties of being a police officer only so long as she/he is on duty. Max Weber discussed this in terms of occupying "bureaucratic offices." This is worth discussing in class.
It was an issue that came up here on our own school campus. I debated it with friends, and this was what we argued over and agreed on... I would love to discuss this topic in class. It really fascinates me! Thank you for you comment.
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