Police Professionalism Essay

We live in a time where peoples’ opinion seems to matter more than evidence. Police officers, state wide, actions are the focus point to the public’s eye, now more than ever. Police officer’s ethic beliefs and individual professionalism are under a magnified glass shown through the mass media. Mostly the negative officers’ actions receive the spotlight. Saint Louis, Missouri Police Departments has been shown to be, threw numerous news broadcasting, as the defining reason for the public disorder between officers and citizens.

As indicated on the Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Department website, professionalism and ethics is one of the main focus to build citizens trust with police officers. Officers are to hold themselves to a higher stander on duty and also while off duty. A St. Louis metropolitan police officer is not a 9 to 5 job, but it is a lifestyle that one must uphold at all time. St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department code of ethics states, “I will keep my private life unsullied as an example to all and will behave in a manner that does not bring discredit to me or to my agency.” Ethics are rules of behavior that a group of people, with common moral beliefs, govern themselves. While professionalism is the level that distinguish one’s higher standards from the

The fear of imprisonment is one factor that deters officers from corruption, but the fear of shaming ones’ family and police family may be a much greater deterrence. Ethics plays a major role in police officers corruption. One must want to be a part of something great in order to uphold their moral ethics. Putting one’s life on the line every day for a paycheck may be a great sign of vulnerability to corruption. To find the officers who feel a more honorable reason to put their lives on the line, would prove that corruption lies within one’s