The IACP Foundation - Assignment Example

Website Field Trip Website Field Trip The IACP is sponsored by. The main purpose of the IACP is to enhance the police service by improving the administrative sector, technical staff and the overall operational performance. It is also used as a forum to share ideas and experience, as well as increase co-operation between different well known police departments and organizations around the world. The IACP’s foremost objective is to produce highly professional and trained police officers and law enforcers, who will practice the right sort of ethics and public interaction that has been taught to them, and will prevent any sort of misconduct on their part.

The IACP presses upon the acceptance of the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor, by all police organizations and departments. This basically requires the police officers to follow an ethical code, and not to misuse their law enforcement authority. The Oath of Honor technically says the same thing as the Code of Ethics, but in a simple and more effective manner, so that it is clear to every police officer that how he or she is supposed to act. It has been explained that a short and strong message delivered by the Oath of Honor, proves to be more effective in an officer’s practical life, when he or she is faced with a moral or ethical problem.

But that does not mean that the Code of Ethics is a useless document; it is as important as the Oath of Honor. The only problem is that ethics and morals in a police officer’s life must continuously be strengthened; therefore the Oath of Honor is a quick and effective way of reminding them that they have an ethical and moral code to uphold. Thus, the IACP is working effectively to ensure that the Oath of Honor is present at every major police department or law enforcing authority and the enforcers are abiding by it.

It has been advised by IACP that the Oath of Honor should be in hand’s reach of a police official. This can be done in several ways: it should be stated at publicly or at meetings of police officials. It could be placed on signs, advertised, or even written at the back of business cards, just so that the law enforcers can have look at it every once in a while. Ethics as discussed earlier is one of the most important parts of a police officer’s training. Any department around the world, which decides to skip this course or deems it unnecessary, makes a huge mistake, because nothing ruins the image if a law enforcement authority, than its officials behaving badly in public and acting out of negligence.

Unethical behavior by a police official can have disastrous effects. Citizens can sue police departments on accounts of misconduct on the part of an officer, which not only leads to a bad image but also damages it financially. People lose respect for the agency and a hard earned reputation can go downhill. The individual under whose supervision the unethical behavior was performed, can lose his or job, and plus destroy their career. As a result, IACP puts a great deal of pressure and stress on maintaining a good ethical and moral code by all police departments and law enforcing agencies over the world.

While exploring this site, I came across a lot of new information, which previously I did not know about. Firstly, I was unaware that a foundation like IACP existed and was working so effectively to maintain a decent and professional service in all police departments. Secondly, I realized that how important a moral and ethical code is in the life and career of a police officer. One mistake in that area, and years of reputation is ruined. Therefore, by teaching proper ethics and then reinforcing it on an officer from time to time, can literally save his or her life from being destroyed.

Thirdly, the Oath of Honor feature was previously unknown to me, though I was aware of the existence of the Code of Ethics. According to me, the Oath of Honor should be made a vital component of police officers’ lives and should be emphasized on them from time to time.