Analytical Essay on Police Professionalism

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The first characteristic of police professionalism is specialized knowledge. This is one of the basics that the police are equipped with. In this context, the police ought to have full knowledge of their activities, how they are supposed to carry out their jobs as well as fundamental skills in the areas or disciplines of their policing (Williams, 1985). These skills include full information and knowledge of the neighborhood that they are assigned to provide watch. The whole of these skills can also be explained with the notion that the police should be informed and competent.

The second characteristic of police professionalism is the ability to have and offer good judgment whenever they are faced with a situation of this sort. The police ought to be professional in their line of duty by making the right decisions about a situation and the decision should be deeply relational with the guidelines stated in the code of conduct of the police taught during their training (Williams, 1985). For instance, police officers should have good judgment in dangerous situations where they are supposed to know when to shoot an individual and when not to shoot.

The third professional characteristic of the police is integrity. Integrity in policing is all about ensuring that the individuals who work for the police departments correctly uphold the values of their service, always work on doing the morally right thing in all situations,s and have full confidence in their affairs with the public (Martin, 2011). In this context, the police also ought to avoid lust in their activities and be kind and polite. For instance, the police should act professionally by distancing themselves from acts of corruption such as taking bribes from criminal offenders and suspects.

The above-discussed characteristics of police are closely related to ethics because the notion of police professionalism is vastly facilitated and affected by their ability to act in an upright manner and according to the morals and ethics of the land. For instance, the concept of police integrity is deeply an ethical issue because that is not something that an individual requires formal skills (Martin, 2011). Further, the issue of good judgment and making the right decisions in situations is completely an ethical issue because the decision that one will make depends on the nature of the individual and how ethical they are.

Morality and integrity cannot be instilled in police officers in formal environments and training camps (Williams, 1985) as these are things that have to come from inside. Every society or community has its own defined ethics and these are things that help to shape the lives of a police officer. In that light, police officers ought to conduct themselves properly with good morals and integrity as this is what will allow them to successfully maintain law and order, treat everyone equally, and make society better (McCartney & Parent, 2015) in general.

References

  1. Martin, R. (January 01, 2011). Police corruption: An analytical look into police ethics. FBI Law
  2. Enforcement Bulletin. Retrieved from http://apus.intelluslearning.com/v3/course-widget/26/#/document/31765583/1/d03204f2253e50a2f2f6170a04d0d319/4b60e138ddf8176b81dcb582ac41af51/browse_published_content/393/1951/3093/2/lesson/lesson?hideClose=true&tagId=26187&external_course_id=393313&external_course_name=CMRJ100%20D003%20Spr%2019
  3. McCartney, S., & Parent, R. (2015)> Ethics in law enforcement. Retrieved from http://solr.bccampus.ca:8001/bcc/file/03897e9e-cb62-40ed-aecc-feef5caae9d2/1/Ethics-in-Law-Enforcement-1486419193.pdf
  4. Williams, B. (1985). Ethics and the limits of philosophy. Retrieved from https://butterflyweeds.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/bernard_williams_ethics_and_the_limits_of_philosbookos-org.pdf

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