Ethical Problem-Solving Module 1 (Scenarios Exam)

An officer is dispatched to a 9-1-1 call where a resident says they need help resolving a situation they cannot handle on their own. According to the lesson, what does this call represent?

During a traffic stop, an officer must decide whether the situation calls for a warning, citation, arrest, or another lawful outcome. What is the officer doing?

An officer is eating lunch in uniform when the business owner offers to pay for the officer’s meal. The officer has to decide whether accepting the free meal is appropriate. What does this situation create for the officer?

A person openly says that people of a certain race, gender, age group, or sexual orientation are inferior or dangerous. Which type of bias is being shown?

An officer meets someone for the first time and immediately forms assumptions about the person based on appearance, clothing, age, and body language before learning any facts. Which type of thinking is most involved?

An officer sees a Hispanic man walking through a mostly white neighborhood and immediately thinks he looks suspicious, even though there are no specific facts connecting him to a crime. What is this an example of?

An officer contacts someone who says they have a military background. Because of that background, the officer assumes the person is not a threat and becomes less alert. What problem is shown?

A veteran officer has handled similar calls for years without serious problems. Because of that experience, the officer becomes too comfortable and misses warning signs during a call. What concern does this scenario show?

During an investigation, an officer assumes a person is telling the truth because the person appears calm, polite, and well-dressed. The officer makes that judgment before checking the facts. What is this an example of?

An officer responds to an elderly sexual assault victim with patience and compassion but is dismissive when responding to a young male sex worker who reports the same type of crime. What problem is shown?

An officer takes an armed robbery report from a victim in a wealthy neighborhood and treats the case as serious. Later, the officer takes a similar report from a victim living in public housing but treats the person as less credible. What issue is shown?

Officer Smith believes teenagers are lazy. When he sees a group of teenagers standing outside a store, he assumes they are lazy without considering that many teenagers work hard or may have a legitimate reason to be there. Which bias is shown?

An officer is trying to solve a problem and asks what is known about the suspect, victim, co-worker, and citizens involved. Which step of the Critical Decision-Making model is the officer using?

While assessing a situation, an officer considers whether someone could be injured if the problem is not handled properly. What type of risk is the officer considering?

While assessing a situation, an officer considers whether the response could damage relationships between the community and the agency. What type of risk is the officer considering?

An officer backs up another officer on a call where violence may be present to help improve officer safety. What type of loyalty is being shown?

Several officers work together to plan a community event that presents law enforcement in a positive way and helps build agency-community relationships. What does this demonstrate?

An officer accepts money from a drug dealer in exchange for protecting the dealer from enforcement action. What type of corruption is shown?

During a drug investigation, an officer takes cash from a drug dealer and keeps it instead of properly documenting or submitting it as evidence. What is this an example of?

An officer threatens a drug dealer in order to force the dealer to give up money or property. What type of corruption is shown?

A business gives an officer free or discounted services because the person is a law enforcement officer. What is this an example of?

An officer uses their authority to take advantage of another person for personal benefit. Which reason for corruption is most directly shown?

A new officer wants to be accepted by veteran officers. Over time, the new officer starts copying the misconduct of the group because that behavior seems to gain approval. Which corruption factor is shown?

An officer places evidence at a scene to help prove a suspect committed a crime because the officer believes the outcome is justified. What is this an example of?

During daily roll call, Sergeant Jones passes around new data maps containing symbols and color codes. When he asks if anyone has questions, no one responds. Officer Parker is confused but stays quiet because he does not want to appear stupid. He assumes everyone else understands, but in reality, everyone is also unsure. Which human inhibitor is shown?

Officer Smith observes Officer Carter making a mistake or engaging in misconduct on a scene. Officers Jones and Adams do nothing, so Officer Smith assumes nothing is wrong. In reality, Jones and Adams may also believe intervention is needed but are waiting for someone else to act. Which human inhibitor is shown?

Several officers are present during misconduct, but each officer assumes someone else will intervene. Because no one acts, the misconduct continues. Which principle is shown?

During an experiment, Subject A hears distress sounds from another room. Researcher B says, “That’s another experiment, I don’t think it has anything to do with us.” Subject A is less likely to help. Which human inhibitor is shown?

During an experiment, Subject A hears distress sounds from another room. Researcher B says, “That sounds bad. I will get the person in charge; you go into the other room to see what is happening.” Subject A acts. What does this example show?

A person being harmed is viewed by passive bystanders as different, bad, strange, an outsider, or “them” instead of “us.” Which human inhibitor is shown?

Officers are dealing with a person they view as a criminal who is not “totally innocent.” That perception becomes a factor in officer misconduct or failure to intervene. Which human inhibitor is shown?

In the inmate transport example, the plaintiff asks the non-driving officer to intervene. The non-driving officer does not act, even after visible injuries and repeated pleas about the erratic driving. What did the court hold?

After an incident, an officer says, “We need to report what happened to the Sergeant so this doesn’t become something bigger than it needs to be.” What is the officer promoting?

During an encounter, an uninvolved person is yelled at even though they were not part of the incident. Another officer explains that instead of yelling orders, one of the officers could have told the person what they were doing. Which procedural justice concept is involved?

A BLET class takes the Arrest, Search, Seizure and Constitutional Law end-of-topic test at 8:00 a.m. Three students do not pass. During lunch, a student who scored 95 percent discusses several correct answers with the instructor, even though the class was told test-item discussions are strictly prohibited and grounds for dismissal. What should another student recognize under the R.I.G.H.T. model?

In the BLET test-discussion scenario, a student overhears prohibited discussion of test answers and must decide what to do. Which model should guide the student’s actions?