Personal Code of Ethics

The stages of the Criminal justice process in the United States are designed to ensure that innocent people are not convicted, and that law enforcement officials do not abuse their power. The majority of cases do not proceed past the preliminary review stage and only a small percentage of arrests end in convictions. Law enforcement officers are expected to act within their jurisdiction and avoid infringing on the rights of private citizens.

As law enforcement officials we should develope our own personal Code of Ethics for ourselves, which would be our personal road map that is designed specifically for the individual officer. "Simply stated, ethics refers to standards of behavior that tell us how human beings ought to act in the many situations in which they find themselves - as friends, parents, children, citizens, business people, teachers, professionals, and so on" (Santa Clara University, n.d.). One's maturity will also be a key indicator on how one will conduct themselves ethically. In an ethically sensitive age such as ours, it is essential that such decisions have a solid ethical grounding and it is just as important that one be able to articulate these grounds when necessary.

Here's a question we as law enforcement professionals should ask ourselves: How does my code of ethics compare to the professional code of ethics?

For me personally, I would say that the difference between my code of ethics and a professional codw, is that my personal code of ethics is based on the standards that will best suit me, my personality and the way that I conduct myself in my everyday life. This code will be something that has been developing within me through the years and has become apart of whom I am as a person and a professional. In other word, there is the core value that has been developed  within me over time such as, honesty, commonsense and knowing the difference between right and wrong does play a part in my personal code of ethics. Subsequently, my personal code of ethics will differ from the professional code of ethics by virtue of the fact that the professional code of ethics will be a written code that reflects the agency views and/or standards that all should expire to achieve so as to give one direction on how they shouldconduct themselves on a daily basis. This is designed so thst others can follow what has been laid out for them by the agency.