I live in Southern California, and just retired from a career in law enforcement last month. I am both shocked and disheartened to see how many individuals and even departments negatively represent themselves in my beloved profession.
The question then becomes, what exactly is "police" and their function?
In 1829, Sir Robert Peel created the London Metropolitan Police, the first ever official police organization. In it's creation, he cited 9 principles of policing. These principles were to guide them as an organization. When looking comparatively to various negative police actions with the guiding principles of their profession, it is not difficult to see where the actions have deviated from these guiding principles. These principles are taught in the academy, but more along the lines of a historical footnote respecting how police were created. They should be taught and given much more priority, as the heartbeat of what their "job function" is. I would personally like to see an activism focus urging police as an organization to place a much greater emphasis on returning to and embracing their guiding principles (especially principle 7).
These principles are:
PRINCIPLE 1 “The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.”
PRINCIPLE 2 “The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.”
PRINCIPLE 3 “Police must secure the willing cooperation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.”
PRINCIPLE 4 “The degree of cooperation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.”
PRINCIPLE 5 “Police seek and preserve public favor not by catering to the public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.”
PRINCIPLE 6 “Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.”
PRINCIPLE 7 “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 the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”
PRINCIPLE 8 “Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.”
PRINCIPLE 9 “The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.”
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