Familiarize yourself with both internal and external complaints and reporting
procedures.
Report breaches of the law and human rights violations.
Command and supervisory officials
Provide in-service training to ensure that all police officials understand fully their
legal powers and the legal rights of citizens.
By example and good command and management practice, ensure that all police
officials maintain respect for the dignity of all persons.
Ensure that all police policy and strategy, and orders to subordinates, take into account
the requirement to protect and promote human rights.
Ensure that all reports and complaints of human rights violations are fully and
properly investigated.
Develop and enforce standing orders incorporating international human rights
standards.
Develop an ethical code of conduct for your police service, incorporating the international standards addressed in this section.
Questions
01.
What advantages are there in asserting that human rights are inalienable and
inherent in every person rather than granted by States?
02. Why do some police officials feel there is a degree of incompatibility between
enforcing law and protecting human rights?
03. What can be done to overcome the view among some police officials that
respecting human rights may be incompatible with law enforcement?
04. What purposes do internationally devised codes, such as the Code of Conduct
for Law Enforcement Officials, serve for individual police officials and law
enforcement agencies?
05. What supervisory and managerial procedures can be adopted to ensure that all
police officials respect the requirement of confidentiality as expressed in article 4 of the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials?
06. Article 7 of the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials prohibits
police officials from committing any act of corruption. How would you define
an act of corruption? List three conditions which you consider the most
important for preventing corruption by police.
07. The application of force by police against an individual is both an ethical and
a legal issue. What level of force does a police official need to exert for such
issues to arise? For example, does even the minimum application of force
raise questions of ethics and legality, or do such questions arise only where
injuries are caused?
08. Given that police are bound to comply with the provisions of domestic law,
which defines police powers and protects human rights, what purpose do ethical codes adopted in individual countries serve?
09. What qualities would you look for in an applicant to a police agency, bearing
in mind the requirement that he or she should be capable of acting effectively and ethically as a police official?
10. Are there any advantages in devising ethical codes for different categories of
police officials – criminal investigators for example? How would such a code
differ from the basic provisions of the United Nations Code of Conduct for
Law Enforcement Officials?
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