Police Ethics: Rules, Principles and Professional Conduct

Police Ethics: Rules and Principles

Police ethics refers to the set of binding rules, principles and norms that govern the professional activity of police officers. Professional ethics, in general, consists of the rules and principles that guide professional behavior, due to the determinations of the profession and the activity performed.

Professional Ethics and Deontology

Professional ethics is a normative discipline that studies the collective codes of conduct of a professional group. Deontology is the objective study of professional duties. Ethics, as a philosophical discipline, evaluates human acts according to moral principles and norms that regulate activities, including police activities.

The Role of the Police

The police are responsible for ensuring compliance with the law, lawful law enforcement, and the reasonable use of the powers granted to them. Police officers must comply with their duties under the law, protect citizens and the community, act with integrity, impartiality and dignity, and oppose any violation of the law. They must not carry out summary executions, torture, human trafficking or other inhuman or degrading treatment, and must not follow illegal orders from superiors.

Security, Citizenship and Public Sovereignty

Police security is essential to public sovereignty and to the rule of law. Under the Spanish Constitution (Article 104), the Security Forces and Corps, under the dependence of the governments, protect the rights and freedoms of citizens and guarantee security. The Judicial Police depends on judges, courts and the Public Prosecutor, and its functions include investigating crimes, discovering and securing offenders, and assisting the judicial authorities.

Fundamental Values of Police Work

• Freedom: full individual autonomy to do anything not explicitly prohibited by law.
• Justice: equal rights and opportunities under the law, with fairness and guarantees.
• Equality: the same position and conditions for every citizen before the law.
• Political pluralism: respect for different forms of being and thinking, and political tolerance.
• Political neutrality: impartiality and non-discrimination in the performance of duties.
• Integrity and dignity: conduct that respects the dignity of every person.

Community Relations and Treatment of Detainees

Preventing abuse, arbitrariness and discrimination is essential, since such acts constitute physical and moral violence. The treatment of detainees must include identification and ensuring their life and integrity.

Professional Dedication and Secrecy

Police intervention may occur at any moment and place, and officers must be prepared to defend citizens. Professional secrecy requires officers to keep confidential information obtained through their functions, except where the law requires disclosure. Officers are responsible for their actions.

International Principles and Codes

• UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (Resolution 34/169, 17 December 1979): officers must respect the law, protect human dignity and rights, use force only when strictly necessary, keep professional secrecy, refrain from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, protect persons in custody, reject corruption, and prevent violations of the code.
• Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Resolution 690 (1974): the police must protect rights and freedoms, act impartially with integrity and dignity, prohibit torture and inhuman treatment, oppose unlawful orders, and carry out lawful orders.
• Recommendation Rec(2001)10 of the Committee of Ministers: the European Code of Police Ethics.

Objectives and Structure of the Police

The objectives of the police are to prevent and combat crime, investigate offenses, and provide assistance to the population. The legal basis of the police includes the public body, police operations, police and criminal justice systems, and the control exercised by the state through judicial, penitentiary or fiscal authorities. Police structures, training, rights, responsibility, control, investigation and international cooperation among member states must all respect judges and the rule of law.