Police Science and law enforcement related subjects had taught officers not to obey unlawful orders or instructions.
The Culture of Law enforcement Dilemma has a long-standing existence in our Liberian society, thus causing some of the finest law enforcement officers or actors to become victims of unwarranted treatment by their superior.
By Monroe Dennis, contributing writer
Someone reading this article might ask, what is the law enforcement Dilemma? In My mind, the law enforcement Dilemma is when an officer is compelled to adhere to, or implement an undesirable instrument from a senior or commanding officer.
Police Science and law enforcement related subjects had taught officers not to obey unlawful orders or instructions, but ironically the culture of law enforcement dilemma has given birth to the institutionalization of obeying unlawful orders or instructions.
An old age theory of not adhering to discipline and courtesy is being widely used as an alibi to silent critical voices that think the culture of law enforcement Dilemma should come to an end.
The Law Enforcement Dilemma is a major factor in the fight against crimes. Because of its deep root amongst law enforcement or senior officers, it becomes extremely difficult to eradicate or to be considered by the public as an epidemic that is eroding the effectiveness and credibility of the first contact of our criminal justice system.
The law enforcement dilemma has had and continues to have negative reflection on the enforcing arm of government. Some empirical facts are the huge and continuous arrests during use, instead of the well-established dealers, the arrests of taxi drivers for traffic violations, instead of private vehicles that ply the streets without registration, insurance, and license plates, undue interferences in criminal cases etc. Because senior officials don’t want junior officers to arrest their so- called interests, those hard-working junior officers are compared to those undesirable instructions that are totally counterproductive to the norms and ethics of law enforcement principles and values.
The saddest thing about the law enforcement dilemma, it has brought too many promising officers’ careers to an end. The reason is quite simple, those officers don’t want to compromise the ethical standards. Professional officers are labelled as not being loyal to institutional heads when they oppose unethical conduct or fail to implement their bosses’ unlawful instructions.
When will this come to an end? In fact, some institutional heads had developed a new wave of covering up law enforcement dilemmas by giving social media tycoons money to promote their wrong doing at the detriment of Professional officers. They also applaud and appreciate officers that exhibit cowardice and sycophantic behaviors all in the name of promoting them.
However, some of the very victims of the law enforcement dilemma had and continue to make names for themselves, the like of Hon. Steven A.J. Zargo, (LIS Boss), Jerry Kaine (US Embassy/ Peace Corps), cllr. Karzor Zubah, (Traffic Court Judge), Hon. Simeon F. Frank (PSDBoss), Augustin Brown, (Chief for Planning/ LNP), Fitzgerald T. M. Biago, (chief for HR/), Mr. Emmanuel Doe Jlikan, (LNP, the author of this piece, Wendell E. Moore (US), Nathaniel W. Dixon (US, etc.
Finally let’s remember the words of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.” Our life begins to end the day we fail to speak about things that matter.”
May God continue to lead and bless those that are standing up and doing the right things. For those that enjoy and continue to benefit from the spoiled system, let it be known that a tomorrow awaits you.
