Police Professionalism and Responsibility

Police in many countries play a fundamental role in ensuring that law and order is adhered to. However, the question of what constitutes to police professionalism and responsibility in the society continues to elicit mixed reactions from the members of the society.

Professionalism is understood differently by different categories of people. The term in its simplest form refers to adhering to the expected set standards or simply behaving and carrying oneself in a manner that depicts your status. Professionalism therefore requires a person to behave in accordance with the set professional standards (Crank, 1990, P. 333). It requires training on characteristics, skills and knowledge that makes an individual portray the behaviors that are expected by the society. It therefore encompasses many attributes which include honor, integrity, caring, respect, communication, excellence and scholarship, responsibility and accountability among many other attributes. On the other hand, police responsibility is concerned with the scope of the tasks that the police are supposed to get involved in. Ensuring that law and order is maintained, and security is provided in an effective way is the role and the duty that police officers have been employed to do. In their tasks, they are required to uphold to higher ethical standards and ensure that they operate within the set laws.

According to Crank (1990), police officers need to ensure that they uphold high professionalism in their service delivery (Crank, 1990, P. 333). The four major areas that can be used to measure on the professionalism of the police officers include apprenticeship, having a holistic work ethics, respect to the authority and abiding by the oral rules or traditional rules that the police is required to adhere to. Police officers are required to show respect and take orders from their seniors. This is one of the professional requirements and the work ethics that police officers are trained and taught once they join the unit. The rationale behind this approach is aimed to ensure that there is no conflict of interest and compromise in maintaining of security. Therefore, they have no authority to defy these rules.

One of the important arguments about police professionalism and responsibility is on the role of police to use force in the execution of their duties (Lersch & Mieczkowski, 2005, p. 552). Many reports have been compiled which accuse police of using excessive force during their execution of duties. Questions of professionalism have therefore tended to arise up causing controversies and contradiction on how the police are required to execute their responsibilities. Professionalism requires that police execute their duties with due diligence to ensure that law and order is restored (Regoli, Culbertson, Crank & Poole, 1998, P. 89). Therefore, they need to adhere to established code of ethics such as using force sparingly depending on the situation at hand. For instance, police are not supposed to shoot an individual who has surrendered. Going ahead to shoot such an individual contravenes the professionalism of the police officers. In such scenarios, police officers are required to arrest such individuals and take them to the court of law to answer to charges.

Professional police officers have a unifying sense of purpose and mission. They know what they want and perform their duties with due diligence. For instance, they help the community to solve their problems by establishing positive relationships with them. These collaborations foster positive cooperation, and make the members of the community have positive attitude towards the police. Apart from their role of security, they have a responsibility to add value to the members of the community by educating and mentoring the vulnerable members like the youths.

It is also required that police officers are satisfied and licensed by credible authority before they are allowed to execute their functions. Professional development among the police officer can go a long way in changing the way the police officers execute their work. It is a good avenue that helps to mold the minds of the police and equip them with salient skills that can help them carryout their tasks with professionalism. For instance, professional police officers are not guided by their selfish interest but aspire to serve the people and ensure that people they serve live in peace and unity. Therefore, the training is paramount in equipping the police with the best approaches that they can execute their roles in a professional manner.

Police have the responsibility of ensuring that law and order is achieved in the society. Therefore, to be able to achieve this, professionalism is the key for provision of good services. They will be able to adhere to ethical standard and execute their tasks to the satisfactorily of all members of the society. Therefore, support is required from all stakeholders to ensure that this becomes a reality. Crime rates and breaking of law among the people can be reduced when these officers have professionalism and understand the scope of their responsibilities.

References

Crank, J.P. (1990). Police: Professionals or craftsmen? An empirical assessment of professionalism and craftsmanship among eight municipal police agencies, Journal of Criminal Justice, 18(4): 333-349.

Lersch, K., & Mieczkowski, T. (2005).Violent police behavior: Past, present, and future research directions, Aggression and Violent Behavior, 10(5): 552-568.

Regoli,R., Culbertson, G., Crank, P., & Poole, E. (1998). Linkages between professionalization and professionalism among police chiefs, Journal of Criminal Justice, 16(2) 89-98