CODE OF ETHICS

AS A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, my fundamental duty is to serve the community; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the Constitutional rights of all persons to liberty, equality and justice.

 

I WILL keep my private life unsullied as an example to all, and will conduct myself in a manner that does not bring discredit to me or to my agency. I will maintain courageous calm in the face of danger, scorn or ridicule; develop self-restraint; and be constantly mindful of the welfare of others. Honest in thought and deed in both my personal and official life, I will be exemplary in obeying the laws of the land and the regulations of my department. Whatever I see or hear of a confidential nature or that is confided to me in my official capacity will be kept ever secret unless revelation is necessary in the performance of my duty.

 

I WILL never act officiously or permit personal feelings, prejudices, political beliefs, aspirations, animosities or friendships to influence my decisions. With no compromise for crime and with relentless prosecution of criminals, I will enforce the law courteously and appropriately without fear or favor, malice or ill will, never employing unnecessary force or violence and never accepting gratuities.

 

I RECOGNIZE the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith and I accept it as a public trust to be held so long as I am true to the ethics of the police service. I will never engage in acts of corruption or bribery, nor will I condone such acts by other police officers. I will cooperate with all legally authorized agencies and their representatives in the pursuit of justice.

 

I KNOW that I alone am responsible for my own standard of professional performance and will take every reasonable opportunity to enhance and improve my level of knowledge and competence.

 

I WILL constantly strive to achieve these objectives and ideals, dedicating myself before God to my chosen profession...LAW ENFORCEMENT.

 

 

PROBABLE CAUSE

Reasonable grounds (for making a search, pressing a charge, etc.) Requires more then a mere suspicion that a suspect committed a crime but not an absolute certainty.

 

Example:Officer Furman arrives at Simpson’s Jewelry store moments after it’s been robbed He sees broken glass inside the store. A man claiming to be Simpson, the owner, is on the scene. He holds what look like keys to the store and seems distressed. He tells Furman that a man, approximately 6'5" tall and weighing over 300 pounds, held up the store at gunpoint and escaped with rings and watches in a small brown paper bag. A few minutes later, less than a mile away from the jewelry store, Officer Furman pulls a car over for speeding. The driver matches the description of the robber, and on the seat next to him is a small brown paper bag and a couple of watches with the price tags attached. Though Officer Furman did not see the robbery itself, the driver matches the unusual physical description of the robber and has property that looks like what Simpson said was missing. Furman has probable cause to arrest the driver.

 

Example: Same case. Assume that the person claiming to be Simpson, the jewelry store owner, was actually the robber’s accomplice. The accomplice gave Officer Furman a phony description and then fled after the officer drove off. The driver pulled over by the officer for speeding is later able to prove that he is the lawful owner of the watches that the officer saw on the seat. In this scenario, the broken glass corroborated “Simpson’s” statement that a robbery had occurred, and Officer Furman had no reason to doubt the word of the person claiming to be Simpson. Thus, the officer had probable cause to make the arrest, even though the information turned out to be incorrect.

 

Example: Officer Seesit pulls over a car and its three occupants for speeding. The officer searches the car (with the driver’s consent) and finds baggies of cocaine stashed behind an armrest in the back seat. All three occupants say they didn’t know the cocaine was in the car. Seesit has probable cause to arrest the car’s occupants. In the absence of evidence demonstrating that the cocaine belonged to a specific occupant, the officer could reasonably conclude that all of them knew about and possessed the cocaine.