The police have to defend the Constitution of Canada, and any other law legislated or established by legally instituted authority.
Police officers will be required to know that the principal duty of their job is to protect people within Canadian boundaries through upholding of the ConstitutionConstitution
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Law enforcers should be aware of the range of their authority as they discharge their duties
Law enforcers shall conscientiously internalize new acts of legislation they implement
Police officers will be required to be conversant with proper moral processes in carrying out their authorized mandates
Police officers shall be required to apply force reasonably within the confines of their lawful authority
Police officers shall at all times honestly, completely and objectively report, attest, and present evidence in all cases of an official nature
Legal practice shall form the hallmark of police duties such as cross-examination, custody, imprisonment, and searches
The principles of justice, integrity and neutrality will guide the actions of police officers while discharging their duties
In discharging their mandates, police officers will be required to recognize that their profession is hinged on public trust
Police officers will align all aspects of their lives to ethical standards of honesty, trust, and decency as demanded by the professional conduct
Police officers will be required to recognize that the Canadian society has the liberty of individuals as a supreme guideline that shall not be invaded without unbiased and indispensable reasons (“ College of Policing,” 2014 )
The relevance of the Code of Conduct
Law enforcement officers are entrusted with civic trust that necessitates them to unfailingly exhibit the maximum level of ethical character. Officers must understand that their work should always be founded on trust bestowed on them by the members of the public. Through the code of conduct, police are granted authority to implement standards of professional conduct as they discharge their responsibilities and duties. There is a need for the police to, therefore, maintain high standards of ethical character such as integrity, impartiality, trust, empathy, respect, and responsibility ( Westmarland & Rowe, 2018 ). Above all, the code of conduct requires that law enforcement officers adhere to the provisions of the Constitution both in public and private lives.
Upholding the provisions of the ConstitutionConstitution is the umbrella standard of conduct on which the rest is established. The Constitution is the ultimate foundation for ethical practice that should govern ethical behavior uniformly across the entire public service. The police being members of public service, must understand that the Constitution explicitly protects human rights. The cardinal duty of the police force is to protect Canadian people as provided for by the Constitution. As the police apprentices undergo their training programs, they must understand this key principle. Knowledge is a crucial requisite for a police officer to be ethical. They must know the scope of their authority a provided for by the Constitution. Behaviors and actions outside the precincts of their powers will not be acceptable. Having sufficient knowledge of the Constitution is the bedrock on which police ethical behaviors will be established both during and after training.
The second standard of code of conduct requires the trainee to become conversant with ethical procedures that define the law enforcement profession. Such ethical procedures, including using reasonable force, incorporate honesty and objectivity in their pieces of evidence and incorporate the virtues of honesty, impartiality, and integrity in their work. Police are required to exercise humaneness in their profession, and they should start practicing these values during their training programs.
Force should be used as circumstances necessitate, and as such, they must recognize human rights and freedoms. Across the globe, law enforcement officers have numerously been accused of using unnecessary force when dealing with suspects. As a result, human rights bodies and legal institutions have been on the forefront to condemn such acts (“ United States Commission on Civil Rights," 2018 ). Right from the training college, police should understand that human rights are supreme and should not be violated. Acknowledging the need to use force as circumstances demand is a crucial requirement for police officers. Handling suspects who are ready to cooperate as they deserve will earn law enforcers public trust ( Morrow et al., 2018 ). Therefore, right from college, police officers must understand that their duty is not to punish but to aide attainment of justice for members of the public.
When collecting evidence for criminal cases, they should be as objective and impartial as possible. In the course of investigations, police officers will often be faced with a myriad of ethical issues. For example, they might tend to favor one side, thus negatively affecting the outcome of a case. In other instances, officers may want to label cases depending on their importance, which will deny or delay justice for deserving members of society ( McCartney & Parent, 2018 ). As such, officers must strive to remain objective and beyond reproach as they discharge their duties. Trainees in a police college are thus required to understand that the ability of courts to offer justice depends on the evidence they correct in the field.
Endeavoring to have integrity will lay a foundation for public trust and thus improved collaboration with the citizens in law enforcement. Honesty is a crucial pillar in police ethics, which therefore necessitates police trainees and those in active duty to have this ethical value. Police officers must be transparent and accountable in their duties. Corruption and hindering justice are some of the integrity issues that taint police forces across the world. A police force that has honesty as one of their foundational principles will benefit from public trust. The success rate of police responsibilities largely depends on the perception of the public. The effectiveness of law enforcement agencies will be affected if there is a divide between the police and the public ( McCartney & Parent, 2018 ). However, integrity is mostly an individual effort, and each police officer must work to improve their honesty levels. Exercising sanity in their duties is a mandatory yardstick for integrity.
The freedom of individual members of Canadian society is of supreme importance. The police should always endeavor to safeguard the liberty of members of the public. Law enforcers should not breach the freedom of people. For instance, the trainee should understand that the privacy of an individual should not be violated. If they have to search for evidence in a private residence, they must obtain a search warrant. Respecting rights and freedoms of members of the public will also earn them the so much needed ( Westmarland & Rowe, 2018 ). Hence, trainees must familiarize themselves with the freedoms given to citizens and how to integrate them into their profession as police officers.
References
McCartney, S., & Parent, R. (2018). Ethics in law enforcement.
Morrow, W. J., Berthelot, E. R., & Vickovic, S. G. (2018). Police use of force: an examination of the minority threat perspective. Criminal Justice Studies , 31 (4), 368-387.
United States Commission on Civil Rights. (2018). Police Use of Force: An Examination of Modern Policing Practices [Ebook] (1st ed.). Retrieved 3 April 2020, from https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/11-15-Police-Force.pdf .
Westmarland, L., & Rowe, M. (2018). Police ethics and integrity: can a new code overturn the blue code?. Policing and Society , 28 (7), 854-870.
College of Policing. (2014). Code of Ethics A Code of Practice for the Principles and Standards of Professional Behaviour for the Policing Profession of England and Wales [Ebook]. Retrieved 3 April 2020, from https://www.college.police.uk/What-we-do/Ethics/Documents/Code_of_Ethics.pdf.
