Role of Integrity in Criminal Justice Work

Police Integrity

Integrity and Police Work

There are few professions either in criminal justice or beyond which are more rigorous, challenging and complex than police work. The law officer must face an array of challenges too various and potentially dangerous to elaborate here. On a daily basis, the officer must work to uphold the law while simultaneously protecting the public, preventing criminal behavior and apprehending those who violate the rule of order. These challenges create a condition in which there is often tremendous pressure upon the officer to behave with honor and integrity. This pressure is precipitated not just upon the unpredictable nature of the fieldwork relating to policing but is also often a consequence of the negative internal culture that permeates some precincts. It is therefore incumbent upon every individual police officer and upon precincts as whole units to resist, prevent, uncover and eliminate the kind of system-wide corruption that prevents officers from conducting themselves with integrity.

A good example of the type of systemic corruption that can challenge the integrity of individual officers is that relating to the practice known as 'racial profiling.' According to the standards for police integrity authored by the U.S. Department of Justice (2001), any such policies which discriminate in law enforcement are to be considered unlawful and out of step with the comportment of police work with integrity. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, "Law enforcement officers should not consider a person's race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, disability or sexual orientation in deciding which vehicles to subject to a traffic stop, search, or other post-stop action, except where officers are on the lookout for, or are seeking to stop, detain, or apprehend one or more specific persons who are identified or described in part by these characteristics." (U.S. Department of Justice, p. 15)

In spite of the fact that this is a clearly pronounced position on the subject, a preponderance of evidence suggests that many law officers, police departments and even states on the whole have been guilty of utilizing racial profiling as an unspoken instrument in crime-fighting. The result is a condition in which many officers will tend to unfairly target particular demographics or racial groups for routing traffic stops, vehicle searchers or other modes of engagement. This is not a behavior that is consistent with the order of integrity to which officers are to be beholden but to many in the line of duty, this is perceived as a necessary avenue by which to conduct work that is frequently challenging and dangerous. Here, officers are often in a difficult position of attempting to balance what they perceive as professional instincts with what may be deeply ingrained and unconscious racial biases. Whether conscious or not, according to JRank (2009), "Statistics show that African-Americans are several times more likely to be arrested and incarcerated than white Americans. As of 2000, fewer African-American men were in college than were in prison. Moreover, black children were nine times as likely as white children to have at least one parent in prison." (JRank, p. 1)