Review Robert Peel’s Nine Principles of Policing (please see assignment below) N

Question

Review Robert Peel’s Nine Principles of Policing (please see assignment below)

Nine principles were set out in the "General Instructions" issued to every new police officer in the Metropolitan Police from 1829.

Although Peel discussed the spirit of some of these principles in his speeches and other communications, the historians Susan Lentz and Robert Chaires found no proof that he compiled a formal list. The Home Office has suggested that the instructions were probably written, not by Peel himself, but by Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne, the joint Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police when it was founded.

The nine principles were as follows:

To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and severity of legal punishment.

To recognise always that the power of the police to fulfill their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.

To recognise always that to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public means also the securing of the willing co-operation of the public in the task of securing observance of laws.

To recognise always that the extent to which the co-operation of the public can be secured diminishes proportionately the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion for achieving police objectives.

To seek and preserve public favour, not by pandering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to law, in complete independence of policy, and without regard to the justice or injustice of the substance of individual laws, by ready offering of individual service and friendship to all members of the public without regard to their wealth or social standing, by ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humour, and by ready offering of individual sacrifice in protecting and preserving life.

To use physical force only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient to obtain public co-operation to an extent necessary to secure observance of law or to restore order, and to use only the minimum degree of physical force which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a police objective.

To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.

To recognise always the need for strict adherence to police-executive functions, and to refrain from even seeming to usurp the powers of the judiciary, of avenging individuals or the State, and of authoritatively judging guilt and punishing the guilty.

To recognise always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.

Submission Method: Complete a blog entry on which of the nine principles is most relevant in policing today and which is the least relevant. Support your conclusions with examples.

Explanation / Answer

Since the beginning of civilization reaching back to the days of Babylon, there has always been some kind of police force in order. Someone to uphold laws and carry out punishments for people that want to break the law and not live like a normal society. There have always been different kinds of police and different ways of enforcing the laws. There were police that not only enforced law, but also imposed punishments. There were also communities that enforced their own types of laws to keep their neighborhoods in order.

Sir Robert Peel

            Robert Peel was a social reformist who served as a Prime Minister, Home Secretary, as well as other offices during his lifetime in the United Kingdom. Peel passed numerous laws that influenced laws that are around in the United States today, such as labor laws that stated women and children could not work in mines, and stating that women and children that worked in factories could only work certain hours, however one of the most important things he did for London was institute a paid police force to patrol the streets. This force dropped the crime rate for London so well that it influenced all of the cities in England to eventually hire their own police force (Nazemi, 2009).

The Peelian Principles

            Robert Peel also created what are commonly known as The Peelian Principles. These are nine rules that have been applied to modern day policing. The first principle is the basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder. The second principle is the ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions. It also states that police must secure the willing cooperation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public. A very important principle is the degree of cooperation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.

            The fifth principle is for police to seek and preserve public favor not by catering to the public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law. The sixth principle states that police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient. The seventh principle is that police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence. The eighth and ninth principles state that police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary, and that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it (Nazemi, 2009).

            These nine principles speak loudly when you think of a police officer and how he or she should conduct themselves. They lay down the basics of how to be a good police officer and how to make the public respect you while you do it. The principles cover everything from what your job is to how to act during a use of force. In my opinion this should be followed by every law enforcement officer to include corrections officers as well.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse R
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.