15.1. Conflicts in the team of the internal affairs department: causes, measures to prevent them and solutions

15.2. Diagnosis of conflict in police departments as the basis for its resolution

15.3. Criminal conflict and its features

Conflicts in the team of the internal affairs department: causes, measures to prevent them and solutions

One of the features of the activities of internal affairs bodies is the contradictory, conflict-ridden nature of their functioning in the sphere of law and order. It is the successes or failures in resolving conflicts in this area that in a certain way affect both the state of affairs in the teams of police departments and the socio-psychological climate in them. At the same time, the prevention and resolution of conflicts in the process of leading a team is a relatively independent psychological and managerial problem. Therefore, improvement management activities, increasing the level of development of teams of internal affairs bodies is inextricably linked with the mastery by managers of methods of socio-psychological analysis of conflicts, their prevention and resolution.

The objective basis of conflicts in law enforcement activities are contradictions caused by divergence and confrontation of views, opinions, interests, and aspirations of individuals that arise in the performance of their professional duties. As a socio-psychological phenomenon, conflicts perform constructive (creative) and destructive (destructive) functions in the life of the collective of an internal affairs unit. The constructive function of conflict in a police department team is to establish an environment of mutual demands, overcome backwardness, increase the level of organization, improve the psychological climate, and initiate innovations in the organization of law enforcement activities. The consequence of destructive conflicts is hostility in relationships, mental trauma, disintegration of the team, weakening of its value-orientation unity and decreased cohesion, depreciation of adequate professional motivation, and more.

The study of a conflict situation and its participants is facilitated by knowledge of the forms of manifestation of conflicts, their causes and frequency. Forms of manifestation of conflicts in a team of law enforcement officers there may be: acute disagreements in views on official duties and assessment of their implementation; mutual criticism goes beyond the bounds of decency; irritability, mutual insults and an unacceptably rude tone in communicating with each other, humiliation of human dignity, refusal to carry out instructions and orders, the creation of “opposition groups”, written anonymous letters containing compromising information, infringement of criticism, etc.

Causes of conflicts in ATS teams are usually divided into two main groups: objective and subjective. TO objective include a low level of labor organization, unfavorable material and technical conditions of activity (for example, “overcrowding” in offices, lack of modern computer and other equipment necessary to perform official duties), extreme conditions of service and associated psychological overloads, low prestige of some services No less important objective causes of conflicts are the imperfection of individual regulations governing the activities of internal affairs bodies, the imperfection of the organizational structure, etc.

Subjective the causes of conflicts are related to individual characteristics personalities of workers and socio-psychological phenomena in the law enforcement team: selfishness, painful pride, vanity, intellectual and general educational backwardness, conservatism, indiscipline, laziness, tactlessness, as well as poor professional preparedness, insufficiently high cultural level. Conflicts may also be based on contradictions between the employee’s self-esteem and the assessment of others, an inflated level of aspirations, a negative socio-psychological climate, and psychological incompatibility between individual employees.

The nature of conflicts depends significantly on the level of development of the team. In less mature, insufficiently cohesive teams of police officers, out of every ten conflicts, three are of a creative nature, and seven arise against the background of hostile relations and cause negative consequences. In such teams, conflicts more often arise between experienced workers and young ones, which are manifested, on the one hand, in the constant dissatisfaction of the elders with the activities of the “young people”, on the other hand, in the complaints of the young that the senior colleague not only does not share his experience with him, but also constantly jokes about his inexperience.

Situations are common when new employees of investigative units are assigned crimes that obviously cannot be solved, which significantly reduces the professional motivation of young specialists. In immature teams, conflicts related to “unhealthy” rivalry or based on mutual accusations for failures in work often occur. This includes the “appropriation of indicators” (solved crimes that others worked on).

In teams with high level Of the ten conflicts, six have a positive direction. Moreover, acute confrontation, which sometimes goes beyond normal relations, arises in some cases due to the fact that one of the parties considers itself offended due to non-acceptance of its solution to a certain work situation, and in others - due to the fact that one employee in overly harsh terms, proves to another that he, with his disrespectful attitude towards citizens, disgraces the title of a police officer. That is, the aggravation of relations arises on the basis of mutual reproaches for insufficient professional competence and originality in solving professional problems.

The results of studies repeatedly conducted by psychologists and sociologists have shown that the frequency of conflicts is also related to the official position of employees in the police department team. Thus, approximately half of the total number of conflicts are conflicts between two employees related to each other by functional responsibilities, 20% - between the head of a department and one of his subordinates, 10% - between heads of departments and groups of employees subordinate to him. The same proportion (10%) of conflicts between the heads of investigative units, on the one hand, and the heads of the BEP and criminal investigation services, on the other. The share of conflicts between chiefs and their deputies reaches 5%, and between deputy heads of regional departments - 2%.

One of the main tasks of department heads is to prevent conflicts that have negative and destructive consequences for the team. In teams with low level development, the manager has to pay more attention to the prevention of destructive conflicts that arise on a personal basis, and not on the basis of mutual (maybe not always fair) demands. This happens because in such teams the tasks of joint professional activity are often relegated to the background, and the problem of psychological compatibility is still far from being resolved; a stable composition and professional core of the team did not develop. Preventive measures in these cases consist of stabilizing the team, strengthening the leadership and personnel core, securing and professionalizing personnel, forming a full-fledged team of the unit and correct relationships in it, which, in turn, is impossible without effectively resolving issues related to the organization of law and order and the fight against crime in region, unites the team, tests its strength and professional corporate spirit.

Prevention of destructive conflicts is closely related to the solution of organizational issues of socio-psychological adaptation of young employees. From the first independent “steps” of the service, it is important to organize their correct perception of the professional environment and understanding of the need to maintain strict order and efficiency; to make one feel the atmosphere of mutual demands and goodwill inherent in the team: positive examples to cultivate psychological stability in young specialists against the negative influence of people with an antisocial orientation, to expose psychological origins various forms manifestations of professional deformation, prevent psychological breakdowns in the behavior of the “newbie”; We are careful to ensure that no one “extinguishes” his inspiration for work by shouting or humiliating adjustments.

In progress professional adaptation law enforcement officers to serve and the growth of their professional skills, the center of gravity of preventing the negative consequences of conflicts shifts to preventing sharp differences in views in relation to work, ways to achieve certain performance indicators, and the image of police officers among the population. This requires the manager to pay close attention to employees who are more “supportive” of the interests of the cause, but turn out to be overly intolerant of colleagues and harsh in their response. It is important, on the one hand, to support such employees, taking into account the principled positions they occupy, but, on the other hand, to suggest rational ways of behavior in the team.

At a higher level of team development, the prevention of destructive conflicts is associated with a further increase in the role of a conscious attitude to business, the development of a sense of responsibility and mutual assistance among employees. There will be fewer conflict situations if the manager does not constantly control all the little things, but trusts the employees, giving them more opportunities to solve the problems that arise themselves.

The creation of a favorable psychological climate as a positive background, reduces the possibility of conflicts with negative consequences, is facilitated by the following rules being followed by the manager:

Do not use power until a complete picture of the conflict is formed and the conviction is formed that all other psychological and educational measures of influence have been exhausted and have not yielded results;

Don’t be afraid to reverse your wrong decisions;

Avoid making comments to subordinates in the presence of third parties;

Learn to win the trust of your subordinates, listen carefully, patiently and favorably to criticism addressed to you;

Never argue with a subordinate over trifles;

Help subordinates develop their professional abilities, skills and abilities without fear that in certain matters they may turn out to be more competent than the manager.

Overcoming and resolving conflicts that disorganize the professional team of employees and negatively affect the quality and efficiency of work activities depends on many components: the subject of the conflict, the participants and their characteristics, the causes of occurrence and forms of manifestation, the dynamics of the course and development, the accuracy of the forecast of its consequences.

The main, psychologically justified way to resolve a conflict at the moment of its manifestation is to transfer the relationship of the opposing parties from the emotional to the rational level. This is based on the fact that the mutual excitement of the parties, the “heat of passions” cause the effect of narrowing consciousness, inadequate perception, thinking, and “igniting” the imagination of the participants in the conflict. An excited state leads to bias and bias in relation to each other. In a situation of conflict in the “manager-subordinate” system and when resolving a conflict between subordinates, the leader should weaken emotions, prohibit tactless attacks, raising his voice and threats, and sharp gestures. Situationally, this can be done through “soft”, calm reproaches or clear and, if necessary, sharp instructions, issuing an order to stop conflict clashes, or by switching the attention of the conflict participants to aspects of official activity that are not related to the subject of aggravated relationships.

When transferring the conflict into a rational channel, it is advisable for the leader to encourage the parties to the conflict to bring weighty arguments in the dispute, help the conflicting parties break down the conflict into its components and consider in detail each point of disagreement, interests and concerns (for example, draw up a map of the conflict). As a result, it is necessary to achieve a change in the motives of confrontation to the motives of resolving relations, the desire to find coordinated positions that correspond to the interests of the service and their interests.

Psychologically justified in “negotiations” with the parties is the inducement to mutual concessions - compromise, recognition of the wrong attitude towards each other. In some cases, it is advisable for a manager to select circumstances when the conflicting parties can do something nice for each other. This method, sometimes used in practice, is also justified when, some time after the conflict, both participants are morally or financially encouraged (if, of course, there are corresponding achievements in the service), they are given incentives in an atmosphere of openness, and under the pressure of circumstances they are forced to mutually congratulate each other.

Smoothing out the conflict and its further attenuation is also facilitated by active rest, switching the employee’s activities to such assignments that he performs with great desire. This can be achieved through business travel, as well as by creating an environment of attention and care around the conflicting subjects.

Typical methods of resolving conflicts by the head of an internal affairs agency are known to be justified in practice:

Solving the problem that underlies the conflict;

- “Suppression” of contradictions;

Compromise;

- “Non-intervention” in the case when an overly hasty intervention by a manager leads to negative consequences;

Elimination of one of the conflicting parties (for example, transfer of one of the parties to the conflict to another unit or a petition for his release from the internal affairs bodies).

Elimination is applied when the manager traces the fact of complete socio-psychological incompatibility of conflicting employees, their unjustified inflated self-esteem and excessively high level of aspirations; compromising and discrediting by individual employees among others, attempts to “eliminate” official management. Radical solution issue by removing conflicting parties from the team should in all cases be psychologically justified and positively perceived by other team members as a measure necessary to normalize the psychological climate and improve performance.

Plan

1. Conflicts in the activities of law enforcement agencies of the state.

2. Causes of conflicts in police departments.

3. Typology of conflicts in the activities of police departments.

1. Conflicts in the activities of law enforcement agencies of the state

The state, as a conflict-generating factor, really has a serious impact on the situation in modern society. Defects in socio-economic research have had a detrimental effect on all spheres of public life.

Law enforcement agencies, representing one of the most significant structural components state apparatus, at all times and in all political regimes experienced multifactorial influence. In the current socio-political situation, law enforcement officers often have to act in special conditions and, moreover, along with all fellow citizens, experience the material and moral consequences of the economic crisis and the destruction of the usual system of spiritual and moral ideals.

The specific nature of the activities of law enforcement agencies determines its increased socio-psychological tension, which is reflected in many conflicts among personnel.

Currently, a number of authors have taken real measures to create legal conflictology, the scope of which includes conflicts in the sphere of politics, interethnic conflicts, social and labor conflicts, criminal conflicts, etc. At the same time, the subject of its analysis should be issues of constitutional and parliamentary procedure, civil and criminal proceedings , arbitration process.

Some researchers have analyzed individual conflict situations arising in the daily activities of police officers. In other works, conflict is considered as the direct cause of a crime or a method of criminal behavior of an individual.

Conflictology social relations is a relatively new direction in the world, and even more so Russian science. The emergence of research and educational structures designed to carry out relevant activities in the conflict management sphere began more than ten years ago, but they have not yet reached the level that could be characterized as a single conflict management concept.

The current state of research is characterized by a motley variety of methodological, methodological and procedural approaches against the background of the dominant dialectical and functional theories of conflicts.

Law enforcement agencies are no less prone to conflicts than other government agencies. According to our data, up to 80% management decisions, adopted by the heads of police units, are the reasons and grounds for hidden and overt conflicts. This occurs due to the overwhelming influence of subordination, which often excludes the free exchange of opinions, and suppression on the part of the management of attempts at any discussions and discussions.

Law enforcement leaders are not adequately trained in the basics social psychology and pedagogical methods of conflict management. Poor knowledge of the forms and methods of resolving conflict contradictions, coupled with unshakable confidence in one’s own rightness, is part of the complex of reasons we have identified that provoke high staff turnover, the gradual erosion of the professional core, manifestations of criminalization, violations of the law, rude and inattentive attitude towards citizens.

Researchers studying conflicts note the spread of conflict phobia, citing one of the reasons for this is the inability to make a conscious and responsible choice of decisions that determine behavior in difficult life circumstances. The mentioned phenomena are in an unconditional causal connection with the energy of the influence of law enforcement agencies on the state and direct organization of the fight against crime in the state.

Today, the government and management apparatus is the main reason for the socio-economic inertia of society. The group interests of the apparatus are most clearly expressed in its bureaucratization. Many conflicting interests depend on the structure of society, in which groups with different goals are formed, and can be caused by different socio-economic status, religion, age, place of residence, and gender differences. Different causes of conflict are often revealed when a controversial political issue involves passing legislation, spending money, or both.

Achievements of developed countries, where conflict studies have received the status of a priority scientific direction and a strong organizational basis, show that increasing the theoretical and practical potential of conflictology can become important factor stabilization and democratization of social relations.

A completely different situation is observed in Russia, where the very mentality of the people lacks a positive understanding of the conflict. Denying the reality of the conflict does not reduce its objective significance and presence in our lives.

2. Causes of conflicts in police departments

Police officers have to participate in conflict situations with different characteristics, the main ones of which can be divided depending on the field of professional activity of the workers they arise into conflicts associated with:

actions to solve crimes;

the process of carrying out preventive work.

Conflict situations in crime-solving activities are often characterized by great emotional stress, significant time duration, and a wide range of possible consequences outcome of the conflict, the need for strict adherence to the law.

According to these characteristics, these situations, as a rule, differ from conflict situations that arise during the implementation of preventive influences, which unfold over a fairly long period of time and in a less tense environment. The noted differences act as factors that have a certain influence on the form and process of interaction in the conflict.

Three main groups of causes of conflicts in police departments can be distinguished:

1. Disadvantages in work organization

This reason is due to the specifics of the activities of the Department of Internal Affairs. They are:

irregularity of work;

high degree responsibility;

constant overload;

uncertainty of competence and functional responsibilities;

costs of moral and material incentives for employees.

2. Imperfect management

Imperfect management is expressed in:

excessive administration on the part of management;

inability to arrange people according to:

qualifications;

psychological characteristics.

3. Interpersonal relationships in a team

Reasons related to interpersonal relationships and causing conflicts:

between successful and lagging employees;

between younger employees and older employees;

psychological incompatibility of people;

lack of education;

poor preparedness of the employee for his functional responsibilities;

psychological and emotional communication barrier.

4. Personal characteristics of the leader

A special group of reasons for the conflict situation is associated with the head of the internal affairs department:

with the style of his activities;

with his character traits;

with the ability to act specific situation;

with his level of professionalism.

A wide range of reasons arise from individual psychological characteristics heads of police departments.

These include:

psychological unpreparedness to regulate one’s own state caused by the “pressure” of responsibility and uncertainty;

distrust of subordinates;

absence or inability to see individual positive results despite overall unsatisfactory performance indicators;

uncritical transfer of habits to work in a new team, as in the previous one;

difficulties in determining the line of behavior in connection with a promotion in the same team.

The main causes of conflicts arising from the personality traits and work style of the head of the police department.

1. Insufficient experience of the manager in working with people.

2. Insufficient experience of the manager in solving operational investigative tasks.

3. Disadvantages of upbringing:

coarseness;

callousness;

dishonesty.

4. Character traits:

imbalance leading to outbursts and harshness in dealing with subordinates;

excessive authority;

lack of flexibility.

According to their social results, conflicts in the activities of police officers can be both positively and negatively directed.

Positively directed conflict- this is a clash of main opinions within the framework of cooperation, united by a common goal. This situation often occurs between operatives involved in solving a crime. Discrepancies arise regarding individual details of the case or versions. However, the ultimate goal is common to everyone - successful solving of the crime.

Negatively directed conflict- these are situations of confrontation that do not pursue socially useful goals. It is impossible to unambiguously evaluate conflicts in police departments in terms of “good” or “bad.” In any case, conflicts lead to decreased performance.

Negative consequences of conflicts in the activities of police departments

Organizational implications:

decrease in management efficiency;

friction between departments within the organization;

increasing psychological distance between employees;

active or passive resistance and suspicion;

disintegration of the police department team.

Psychological consequences:

feeling of anger;

feeling of humiliation;

• state of depression.

Positive consequences of conflicts in the activities of police departments

Organizational implications:

violations of the principles of democratization of society are identified;

violations of the principles of social justice are identified;

Hidden difficulties in work are identified;

Hidden reserves in work are revealed;

professional knowledge and skills that individual employees lack are identified.

As a result, the police department team can come to:

awareness of common goals;

improving management methods;

improvement vocational training workers;

returning to previously unresolved issues;

posing new problems;

the emergence of constructive considerations about methods for resolving them.

3. Typology of conflicts in the activities of police departments

Quite a lot of different criteria for classifying conflicts in internal affairs can be defined. All the typologies that we considered when studying the first topic can also be used to classify conflicts in the activities of internal affairs bodies. However, in our case it is advisable to use the main features of conflict classification.

We will include:

• sources;

  duration;

• form of manifestation;

  type of structure of relationships between opponents;

  consequences, etc.

Typology of conflicts in law enforcement

Criterion	Types of conflicts
By resolution method	antagonistic, compromising.
By scope of permission	V business sphere, in the personal and emotional sphere.
By social status participants	vertical, horizontal, mixed.
According to the number of participants	between the individual and the group, interpersonal (dyadic), local, intergroup (organizational).
According to the subjective orientation of the participants	mutually positive, mutually negative; one-sided contradictory-negative, one-sided contradictory-positive, mutually contradictory, impersonal or mutually indifferent.
By range	intra-organizational, external.
By nature of reasons	objective, subjective.
According to the adequacy of participants’ perception	genuine, random, biased, misattributed, latent, false.
By intensity	weak, normal, strong.
By duration	short-term, long-term, protracted.
By intentionality (direction)	focus on distribution, limitation, escalation, attenuation.
According to the degree of manifestation	open, hidden (latent), potential.
According to the consequences	constructive (positive, functional), destructive (negative, dysfunctional).
By reversibility	reversible, partially reversible, irreversible.

This classification is quite arbitrary. There is no hard line between different types of conflicts. As a result, in the practical activities of law enforcement agencies, both mixed types of conflicts and other forms not provided for in our typology may arise.

Thus, an important feature of the activities of internal affairs bodies is the contradictory and conflictual nature of their functioning in the sphere of law and order. Successes or failures in resolving acute conflict situations in the internal affairs department affect the microclimate in individual departments and the relationships of specific employees.

Questions and tasks

1. Name the types of conflicts that arise in the activities of the security forces of the state.

2. In what area of ​​professional activity of police officers do conflicts arise?

3. List the causes of conflicts related to interpersonal relationships.

4. What personal characteristics The head of the internal affairs division for conflict prevention must have it.

5. What negative consequences can conflicts lead to in the activities of the police department.

6. Describe the types of conflicts that arise in the law enforcement activities of police officers.

Lecture outline: 1. The essence and structure of moral
choice.
2. Moral conflicts in
law enforcement activities.
3. Moral acceptability
legal coercion.

The essence and structure of moral choice.

The essence and structure of moral choice
.
Moral
choice
–
This
conscious
preference
a person of this or that
option
behavior
V
according to personal or
public
moral
installations.

Moral regulation of human behavior differs significantly from legal regulation. Thus, the right is based on

state,
and morality - to the public
opinion, sense of conscience, duty,
justice, love, etc.

.

Objective conditions of moral
choice – availability of choices
behavior and their capabilities
implementation.
.
Subjective conditions
moral
choice – level of moral
personality development, degree of assimilation
its regulatory requirements,
developed sense of duty, conscience and
other moral characteristics
personalities

Fatalistic position
moral choice: behavior
man is predestined
objective circumstances,
therefore the possibility of moral
choice turns out to be imaginary, so
how a person does certain things
actions not according to one's own
desire, but under pressure
vital necessity.

Relativistic position of moral choice: a person is absolutely free in his choice and no objective circumstances

may limit it
choice.

The moral choice in the activities of police officers has a number of features:

making a decision
employee is largely determined
regulatory acts (Laws of the Russian
Federation “On the Police”, “On Operational Investigation Activities in the Russian
Federation");
integral part of activities
Police officers are at risk.

Risk is an action associated with a possible danger to the life and health of a police officer.

The end justifies the means - postulate
Machiavelli - characterizes the position
moral choice, the main thing is
achieving a goal, even if the methods
unfair and immoral.
The position of the relationship between goals and means. Purpose and
the means are objectively interconnected,
are in a state of dialectical
interaction, so the means must
meet the goal.

2. Moral conflicts in law enforcement

Conflict (lat. “conflictus” -
clash of opposites
interests, views, serious
disagreement, heated dispute) - in
broadly means
extreme case of exacerbation
contradictions.

Conflict is understood as the collision of various both subjective and objective tendencies in motives, relationships, actions and

behavior
individuals, groups, associations.
Moral conflict - clash
moral standards in the individual or
public consciousness associated with
struggle of motives and demanding
moral choice.

There are five main types of conflict:

intrapersonal (by participants
the conflict is not people, but
various psychological factors
the inner world of the individual, often
seeming or appearing
incompatible, i.e. (needs,
motives, values, feelings, etc.);

Interpersonal conflict

Such conflicts are usually based on
lie objective reasons; more often
total struggle for limited resources
- material resources,
production area, time
equipment use, working
strength, etc.

Conflict between individual and group

groups set their own norms
behavior, communication; every member
such a group must comply with them;
deviation from accepted norms group
viewed as a negative phenomenon
conflict arises between the individual and
group

Intergroup conflict

for example, between management and
performers, between workers
various departments, between
informal groups within
divisions, between the administration
and the trade union

Social conflict

a situation where the parties
interactions pursue some
their goals that conflict or
mutually exclusive

Moral choice in a situation of conflict, both interpersonal and intrapersonal, has two sides:

1) objective – the ability to choose;
2) subjective – realization through freedom
will, choice, decision, adoption of an attitude towards
action.

Law enforcement officials should pay attention to the following types of conflicts:

1) external – appear as sharp
moral contradictions between
people; express differences
moral values ​​of individuals
individuals and social groups;

2) internal – manifested in the internal struggle of motives and feelings;

3) constructive - as a result
resolution of such a conflict
positive things happen
solution of a problem;
4) destructive – not a problem
is solved, but, on the contrary,
getting worse.

Conflicts can be classified according to their content into contradictions:

1) between the goal and its means
achievements;
2) between motives and results
activities;
3) between the idea of
morality and its reality
position in society.

The peculiarity of a moral conflict is that in the current situation the choice of any action as following one or another

moral standards lead to
violation of another norm.

3. Moral admissibility of legal coercion.

Coercion can be understood as
denial of the will of the subject and
external influence on his behavior.
Legal coercion applies
only to specific subjects of law,
who violated legal norms;
represents external
influence on the subject for the purpose
force him to comply with legal
instructions to prevent new
violations, educate the culprit and
those around you.

Morally acceptable behavior

- this is behavior, although responsive
moral requirements, but located
on the verge of moral and
immoral, this is the “minimum
morality."
Legal enforcement is carried out
through law enforcement
acts and on the basis of law.

The main task of coercive acts is to protect law and order.

According to the method of its protection, one should distinguish
three types of coercion: suppression,
restoration, punishment (penalty).

Use of legal measures
does not always exert coercion
positive impact on themselves
law enforcement officers
organs. In particular, it may happen
deformation of moral consciousness
(for example, it may form
installation on the admissibility of use
any coercion).

The lower the crime rate, the higher
the moral bar must be raised
admissibility.

Law enforcement, due to the intense confrontation with criminals and the use of specific forces and means, quite often puts employees in situations of moral conflict. These conflicts arise when there are opposite directions of motives, when the subject has to mentally “weigh” social necessity, expressed in the demands of duty, and personal plans, rationally conscious motives and desires that run counter to them, when hesitation arises between the choice of near and distant goals, when a person the choice between greater and lesser evil is disturbing, etc. The peculiarity of a moral conflict is that in the current situation, the choice of any action as following one or another moral norm leads to a violation of another norm. The difficulty here lies not so much in the fact that a person may not know some moral standards and therefore is not able to make a choice, and also not in the fact that he does not want to fulfill the requirements of morality, but in the need to resolve the clash of these requirements. Among the conflicts that have professional significance for law enforcement officers, attention should be paid to external and internal conflicts. External conflicts manifest themselves as acute moral contradictions between people (individual - society, individual - group, individual - individual, group - group, group - society). They express a divergence of direction value orientations individuals, social groups and society. The nature of internal conflicts is different. Their source is the complexity and diversity of the individual’s motives themselves, which are subordinate and subordinate to each other. The resolution of an internal conflict can in some cases be the reason for the emergence of an external one. Thus, a person’s decision to cooperate with law enforcement agencies on a confidential basis may be, for example, the result of resolving an internal conflict between the fear of exposure in the environment in which he has to work, and the awareness of the need for such cooperation in favor of the latter, which can lead to the emergence of an external contradiction between the unspoken assistant and the environment of his activity is the opposite.

There are many forms of manifestation of moral conflicts in law enforcement. They are determined by the specific features of this or that direction of this activity, the specific conditions in which this activity is carried out, the socio-psychological characteristics of the participants in the conflict and other circumstances. When considering the problem of moral choice, including the relationship between goals and means in law enforcement, the question has repeatedly arisen on the admissibility and limits of the use of legal coercive measures and special means of combating crime. On the one hand, there is no doubt that the use of these means of law enforcement is caused by objective circumstances. Without the use of legal coercion and means of operational investigative activity, it is impossible to effectively fight such a social evil as crime. On the other hand, it is also obvious that these measures infringe on the personal freedom of citizens, even those suspected of or having committed a crime. The mere fact of restricting the personal freedom of citizens, taken outside of social conditions, cannot be considered positive. But any assessment is given not to abstract, but to concrete phenomena. The concrete historical approach recognizes interference in the personal lives of citizens and restriction of their freedom as negative in principle, but at the same time allows for the possibility and even necessity of such interference to protect personal interests or the interests of other citizens, society, and the state from criminal attacks on them. It is also impossible not to take into account that the use of legal coercive measures does not always have a positive impact on law enforcement officers themselves. In particular, there may be a deformation of moral consciousness and even a change in some personal qualities. In assessing the activities of law enforcement agencies, the binary formula “moral-immoral” is often used, which also has profound implications. historical roots. Even the ancient Stoics argued that just as a stick can be either straight or crooked, so an action can be either fair or unfair. According to this position, morality is alien to any calculations and indifferent to the quantitative side: there is no significant difference between the one who steals gold from the bank and the one who steals a loaf from the store. Morality, from this point of view, equally condemns both actions. But in reality, things are never completely white or completely black. In reality, there is a huge spectrum of shades located between these absolutes. In the same way, any action has its own moral “shade”. The above reasoning ignores the real difference between harm caused to, say, one person, and an insult caused to the whole society; between disrespect shown to a person and betrayal towards him. It is no coincidence that even terminologically there is a “quantitative” gradation of morality. We put one degree of condemnation into the expression “he committed an unethical act” and another into the expression “he committed an immoral act,” although in both cases we are talking about a violation of moral requirements, but the significance of these violations is different. Giving, for example, the same positive assessment of the actions of a law enforcement officer who walks under the bullets of bandits who have taken hostages, and the actions of an operative worker who is forced to hide the true nature of his work from relatives and friends, one cannot fail to notice their differences. moral value. In the first case we are talking about an unconditionally moral act, in the second - bordering on immoral. Consequently, the range of the concepts of “moral” and “immoral” is quite large. Moreover, even those phenomena that receive an unconditionally morally positive or negative assessment always contain an element of the opposite assessment. So, in the first case of the above example, the employee’s sacrifice for the sake of the lives of other people is overshadowed by the possibility of his death or injury, the grief of his relatives and friends, etc., which already brings negative content to this phenomenon, and at the same time this fact enhances the positive value of the employee’s action. This is the dialectic of morality: the greater the evil that is overcome by an action, the higher its positive content, and the greater the damage caused to a person fighting evil, the more valuable his action is.