Ethical Conduct in the Administration and Operation of the Police Department

Introduction 

Ethical challenges exist in every part of the criminal justice system. On the other hand, administrators are tasked with the responsibility of establishing ethical conduct in the administration as well as the operation of the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system is regarded as one of the essential public service systems as the public interacts with it on a day to day basis. Most often, people employed in the criminal justice system are compelled into situations in which they are forced to make personal and swift decisions that are likely to have damaging or fatal consequences. Improper training, poor analytical and reasoning skills, unsuitable legal professionals, law enforcement officers may find themselves forced to recuperate from the effects of uninformed choices. As an employee tasked with the protection and defence of the public from acts of crime as well as the risks crime presents, the criminal justice system is obligated to have and uphold all the tool arrangements it requires to be able to address the situations to the best of their ability. This research paper presents a policy that outlines and elaborates on how the police department will operate in an ethical fashion based on an established policy, which will be communicated to members of the police to ensure awareness and implementation, as well as compliance. 

Establishment of the Ethical Policy 

The ethical policy is established based on the provisions of “The European Code of Police Ethics” that highlights the ethical policy frameworks. The police should act to uphold the ideals and standards that are required for them in a contemporary and democratic society. Thus, there is the need to reorganize the police to promote as well as unite democratic values. The ethical policy will focus on fortifying common policing principles throughout state boundaries both to fulfil the anticipations of ever-increasing mobile individuals from other nations, who aspire to be confident of the constant, just and foreseeable treatment by the police. Further, the policy ethics will emphasize enhancing the powers of the police co-operation which will ensure their effectiveness in the fight against international crime. Last but not least, the ethical policy will be established on the principles of achieving greater unity between the member states. In order to draft a comprehensive ethical policy document, it is important to involve the community and the governing entity. The ethical policy recognizes that the police department is responsible for providing a safe environment for all the community members (California Police Chiefs Association, n.d.). Therefore, the ethical policy must be responsive to the needs of the community which necessitates the maintenance of open and sustainable communications between the community, the head of police and the law enforcement. The business community as a different target as they are the most directly affected by the new ethical policy regulating the behaviors of their officials. The business community is packed with greedy persons waiting to corrupt the police, and the corrupt creates intolerable uncertainty. Thus, including the business in the ethical policy development enables them to have ownership of the process and ensures that the ethical policy takes into account a wide range of behaviors. 

Ethical Policy Communication to the Police to Ensure Awareness and Adoption 

Good practice proposes that codes of conduct be drafted in the context of a communication plan. The ethical policy will be communicated to the police based on effective communications strategies so that it does not lead to cynicism among the police. Many successful structures have proved beneficial to the code of conduct both legally and in the public mind. First, the police department will use a special event to launch the code of conduct of the police. Launching the code of conduct in a special event ensures that every police and the public minds a date specific to the code to take effect. If the event is successful, then the leadership is committed to executing the code. Secondly, launching a successful event sets standards or markers for public expectations. 

Even though a section of the population may perceive the communications strategy as a disparaging way to manipulate the opinion of the public, ethical policy and the institutions established to execute them must start developing the trust of the public. Partly, to develop the public’s trust requires the provision of concrete information to people who will use and be impacted by the ethical policy. Effective communication is the only way to address the myth of corruption which is people’s beliefs regarding corruption as well as the emotions attached to the ideas, as revealed in the public debate and gossip (Newburn, 2015). Shunning communications concerns irrespective of the effective, ethical policy can negatively affect its primary purpose of giving the public confidence in the integrity of the police department. 

The communication systems can vary as widely as using publicity campaigns, television, radio and print media. There could also be the use of administrative announcements as well as large events. Effective communication is important in keeping ethical policy vibrant and alive. Thus, to come up with an effective communications strategy, there must be an earlier plan ahead of time which focuses on measurable goals and take advantage of the emotive features in ethics. A well-done communication strategy re-invigorates the police with a sense of professionalism, responsibility to the public, pride as well as value for their work. 

Inspection of Ethical Policy to Ensure Compliance 

To ensure compliance of ethical policy, the department of the police administrators will effect a free and fair process for the police to be held accountable for their actions based on the legal and institutional systems of monitoring and enforcement. Besides, there will be continuous monitoring of the police through internal and external control mechanisms such as the management of police, oversight, and observations to identify problems in the criminal justice system, and the police and individuals responsible. To uphold integrity, problems identified through monitoring will be dealt with by the responsible authorities. Also, actions and procedures that are improper will be changed, and criminal violations will be dealt with by the legal system and effecting appropriate sanctions to the individuals responsible. Effective and timely enforcement will help ensure accountability of the ethical policy and serve as a deterrent to future illegal actions and problems (North Yorkshire Police Federation, n.d). 

Reinforcement of Ethical Policy So That the Police Clearly Understand 

Ethical policy can be reinforced through education rather than training. Good practice proposes that drafting an ethical policy has to be made as to whether it is designed for the police to be trained and educated on its contents. Governments tend to teach the rules as they argue that familiarity with the regulations would allow the police to know what is expected of them and where to go through the rules in case they are unclear. In a system that is more complex, it is important to provide enough information to the police so they can ask questions of an ethics official. Providing sufficient information works for some police; however, such training presentations are too detailed, repetitive as well as irrelevant for the police work as finds a majority of them. Also, positive assessments of the training programs are based on the personality of the trainer as opposed to the contents of the training (Newburn, 2015). 

This ethical policy adopts an approach of strengthening education as opposed to training. In moral policy education, rules are not the foundation of education instead the education is based on general principles but uses rules as principles. The basis is that rules are simply the starting point where the behavior of the police should incline below. Thus, education emphasizes the sense of reasoning from principles. In training and education approaches, the object is to influence behavior. 

Conclusion 

Even though there are ethical challenges in every aspect of the criminal justice system, the police department is responsible for setting an ethical policy in the administration and operation of the police department through a well-established ethical policy which is communicated the stakeholders to ensure awareness and implementation. The ethical policy must be inspected based on proper instruments to ensure compliance and reinforced so that stakeholders clearly understand the codes of conduct. 

References 

California Police Chiefs Association. (n.d.). Code of ethics . Retrieved on 30 October 2018, from https://www.californiapolicechiefs.org/code-of-ethics 

Newburn, T. (2015). Literature review: Police integrity and corruption. HMIC. Retrieved on 30 October 2018, from https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/wp-content/uploads/pic-literature-review.pdf 

North Yorkshire Police Federation. (n.d.). Current Issues: Code of conduct for police officers . Retrieved on 30 October 2018, from http://www.nypolfed.org.uk/publications/current-issues/