1. Reverence for the Law
The main thrust of a peace officer’s duties consists of an attempt to enforce the law. In our application of the law, we must do it within a legal spirit which was so clearly set forth by the framers of the Bill of Rights, an original part of
our Constitution. That bill had as its purpose elevating the rights of each citizen to a position co-equal with the state which might accuse him. Its purpose was to provide for an enforcement of the law with fundamental fairness and equity.
Because of the Bill of Rights, the dignity of the individual per-son in America was placed in an almost sacred position of importance.
A peace officer’s enforcement should not be done in grudging adherence to the legal rights of the accused, but in a sincere spirit of seeking that every accused person is given all of his rights as far as it is within the powers of the police.
In the discharge of our enforcement of criminal statutes, the peace officer must scrupulously avoid any conduct which would make him a violator of the law. The solution of a crime, or the arrest of a lawbreaker, can never justify the peace officer
committing a felony as an expedient for the enforcement of the law.
We peace officers should do our utmost to foster a reverence for the law. We can start best by displaying a reverence for the legal rights of our fellow citizens and a reverence for the law itself.
2. Crime Prevention Top Priority
The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder as an alternative to repression by military force and severity of legal punishment. When the police fail to prevent crime, it becomes important to apprehend the person
responsible for the crime and gather all evidence that might be used in a subsequent trial.
3. Public Approbation of Police
The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of po-lice existence, actions, behavior, and the ability of the police to secure and maintain public respect.
4. Voluntary Law Observance
The police must secure the willing cooperation of the public in voluntary observance of the law in order to be able to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public.
5. Public Cooperation
The degree of public cooperation that can be secured diminishes, proportionately, the necessity for the use of physical force and compulsion in achieving police objectives.
6. Impartial Friendly Enforcement
The police seek and preserve public favor, not by catering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to the law without regard to the justice or injustice of the substance of individual laws; by readily offering
individual service and friendship to all members of society without regard to their race or social standing; by the ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humor; and by readily offering individual sacrifice in protecting and preserving
life.
7. Minimum Use of Force
The police should use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order when the exercise of persuasion, advice, and warning is found to be insufficient to achieve police objectives; and police should use
only the reasonable amount of physical force which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a po-lice objective.
8. Public Are the Police
The police at all times should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police; the police are the only members of the public who are paid to
give full-time attention to du-ties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interest of community welfare.
9. Limit of Police Power
The police should always direct their actions strictly toward their functions and never ap-pear to usurp the powers of the judiciary by avenging individuals or the state, or authoritatively judging guilt or punishing the guilty.
10. Test of Police Effectiveness
The test of police effectiveness is the absence of crime and the presence of public order. It is not the evidence of police action in dealing with crime and disorder.
11. People Working with Police
The task of crime prevention cannot be accomplished by the police alone. This task necessarily requires the willing cooperation of both the police and the public working together toward a common goal.
12. People Working with People
Since the police cannot be expected to be on every residential or business block, every hour of the day, a process must be developed whereby each person becomes concerned with the welfare and safety of his neighborhood. When people are working
with other people in their neighborhood, they can effectively reduce crime.
13. Managers Working with Police
Only line police officers perform the tasks for which police were created. They are the operating professionals. Supervisors and managers exist to define problems, to establish objectives, and to assist line police officers in the accomplishment
of the police mission.
The evaluation of a manager should be based on the improvement and excellence of his subordinates in the achievement of organizational goals. The life’s blood of good management is a thoroughly systematic, two-way circulation of information, feelings,
and perceptions throughout the organization.
14. Police Working with Police
For many reasons, some specialization of work is necessary. Specialization should be created only when vitally necessary. When specialization is created, organization should be adjusted to ensure that the specialists and generalists who serve
the same citizens work closely together on the common problems in as informal an organizational structure as possible. This will tend to ensure a unity of effort, resources, and the effective service to a common goal.
15. Police Working with Criminal Justice System
It must be recognized that the police and the people alone cannot successfully resolve the problems of crime. The criminal justice system as a whole, in order to properly serve the public, must operate as a total system with all of its various
elements working together. The close cooperation of the police with prosecutors, courts, and correctional officers is necessary in order to ensure the development of a safer community.
16. Police/Press Relationships
One of the first and most fundamental considerations of this nation’s founders in drafting the Bill of Rights was to provide for a free press as an essential element of the First Amendment to the Constitution. They recognized that a well-informed
citizenry is vital to the effective functioning of a democracy. Police operations profoundly affect the public and therefore arouse substantial public interest. Likewise, public interest and public co-operation bear significantly on the successful
accomplishment of any police mission. The police should make every reasonable effort to serve the needs of the media in informing the public about crime and other police problems. This should be done with an attitude of openness and frankness
whenever possible. The media should have access to personnel, at the lowest level in a Department, who are fully informed about the subject of a press inquiry. The media should be told all that can be told that will not impinge on a person’s
right to a fair trial, seriously impede a criminal investigation, imperil a human life, or seriously endanger the security of the people. In such cases, the minimum information should be given which will not impinge on the four areas and we
should merely state that nothing more can be said.
In all other matters in our relationship with the media in dealing with current news, every member of the Department should make every reasonable effort consistent with accomplishing the police task in providing the media representatives with
full and accurate material.
17. Management by Objectives
In order to effectively deal with the most important problems, objectives must be established. The establishment of objectives and the means used to ensure that they are reached must include the participation of those involved in the task. The
setting of an objective has very little meaning without the participation of those involved.
18. Management by Participation
Since employees are greatly influenced by decisions that are made and objectives that are established, it is important for them to be able to provide input into the methods utilized to reach these decisions. Employees should be encouraged to make
recommendations which might lead to an improvement in the delivery of police services and assist in the furtherance of the Department meeting its objective.
19. Territorial Imperative
Police work is one of the most personal of all personal services. It deals with human beings in life and death situations. The police officers and the people they serve must be as close as possible, and where possible must know one another. Such
closeness can generate the police-citizen cooperation necessary for the involvement of the whole community in community protection. Organization of assignments should ensure that the police and the same citizens have an opportunity to continuously
work for the protection of a specific community. Strength through interacting together and working together on common problems can be enhanced through officers and the people feeling at home with one an-other in an atmosphere of mutual cooperation.
This may be described as a utilization of the "Territorial Imperative."
20. Openness and Honesty
For police-public cooperation, there must be respect of the police by the public. This is best ensured by optimum openness of the Department in its operations. A general feeling and reality of openness must pervade the police organization. Above
all, the police officer must be consistently open, honest, and trustful in all matters. A combination of honesty and openness will effectively develop respect in the community for the police and make it possible for citizens to come to them
with problems and information. Where this trust does not exist because of a lack of honesty or openness, the channels of communication between the police and the public are clogged and the police must desperately struggle on alone.
