Sociology

Law enforcement has been faced with several issues and changes over the years. This paper explores these factors that affect the operations of undercover police officers. It discusses the physical and ethical issues they are constantly faced with. It discusses the involvement of ethics in law enforcement and ethical behavior of the officers.

Law enforcement by police officers has faced a number of challenges in many countries over the years. It has also experienced changes both in structure and how they operate. The officers face a lot of temptation as they carry on with their duties. They have to deal with both physical and ethical issues, some of which are risky affairs.

Firstly, the poor organizations of the police and devolved systems have led to poor service delivery by the officers. Corruption has been a major issue especially in dealing with illicit drug traders. Due to the overflowing huge amounts of cash involved in this business, officers may be tempted to accept payments from these dealers. Secondly, decentralized structure of the policed agencies has led to difficulty in accountability. The heads of police have preferred the community based approach in fighting crime. The officers have a direct contact with the people. This model has reduced the level of accountability. It has made monitoring of the officers to be impossible leading to unaccountability. The Community Based policing, therefore, encourages corruption. Thirdly, the working environment is normally violent in nature. This has posed a lot of risks to the officers who are constantly striving to restore law and order in a dangerous community. The poor structure of the police unit has led to loss of morale. This has affected even the most qualified undercover officers who are willing to serve with dedication. The poor structure prefers that officers be loyal to the bosses without paying attention to the integrity of the individual. They are seriously scrutinized and forced to follow tough rules which are complex. The outcomes of a complex structure, constant temptation and community based policing have proved to affect the ethics of undercover officers (OMalley, 1997).

The officers are sometimes forced to apply a lot of force when doing their duties, for example, during demonstrations. The aggression has sometimes been misunderstood and leads to different conflicting recommendations. It is important to determine the reasons for this aggression and use of force before any conclusions are made. The ethical well being of the undercover agents should be given priority. An integrated approach should be designed to improve on the ethical behavior. It should be simple, workable and non rigid (OMalley, 1997). 

The undercover police officers have gone to the extent of not following the laws in order to carry on with their duties. For example, an officer might be forced to pretend to be involved in drug trade in order to arrest the culprits. This, however, might lead to temptations due to the high amounts of cash involved, which might be enticing to the individual. Therefore, breaking the law may lead to loss of trust from the public (OMalley, 1997).