The 5 Principles of Constitutional Ethics
I was putting together a police ethics class last week when I was reminded of a paper written by Capt. Tim Hegarty while he was at the National Academy. Capt. Hegarty's paper was about the difficulties of teaching ethics because of the vagaries of the various Codes of Ethics/Honor found in policing. Capt. Hegarty's work pointed me to a paper written by Sgt. Monica Moll of the Kent State University Police Department
http://forumonpublicpolicy.com/archivesum07/moll.pdf
Moll in turn references the work of Howard Cohen and Micheal Feldberg in their book Power and Restraint: The Moral Dimension of Police Work. The basic premise is this - every law enforcement officer in the country has sworn an oath to the Constitution and our Constitution is based on 5 Basic Principles. So teaching LEOs about ethics should boil down to presenting them with these 5 Constitutional Ethical Principles/Standards which can they can then use as a practical guide in their decision making. The 5 principles/standards are:
1) Fair Access - All citizens should have fair access to police services based on needs.
2) Public Trust - The public gives the police their power and trusts that it will be used with restraint for public good not personal gain.
3) Safety and Security - The purpose of enforcement is a safe and secure society, not enforcement for enforcement's sake.
4) Teamwork - Did you know that you are part of the executive branch of government? The Constitution sets up checks and balances which prevent officers from interpreting laws or exacting punishment.
5) Objectivity - Officers should not use their personal feeling when executing laws.
So how did the class go? We will find out in the coming months.