As the world changes, there is an increasing need for high standards of ethics in policing. Crime is no longer mainly a community issue; rather, it is an international one. As a result of this, police forces are progressively needing to work with people from all over the world. These changes in the world, and the resultant changes in police work, mean that ethical issues are more important now than ever before.
The circumstances under which police are working is shifting and the police service are up against many trials in their day to day work. This shift is an effect of broader changes, both social, political and economical in nature. Furthermore, police are forced to consider and rethink the ethical elements of their practice. One example is the change in crime trends which take place outside the borders of the country. This means that police need to work on a global scale and improve the levels of policing practice internationally (Martin, 2012).
Also, crime has turned into a commonly debated subject between governments in Western democracies, including Europe and the US. Some observers have pointed out the changing quality of policing, which is no longer controlled solely by the regular police; rather, it now comprises an large range of agencies and stakeholders. According to Denise Martin (2012) Europe has seen the enactment of the “European Convention of Human Rights” which was passed as UK law in 1998. This stresses that public agencies should respect rights of people while carrying out their working responsibilities. Likewise, commonly known senior officers have stressed the importance of creating ethical standards in policing (Martin, 2012).
Creating and upholding ethical standards in policing has become a urgent matter to many law enforcement agencies around the world. As the very nature of crime appears to be moving, the skills of the police need to reflect this.
References
Martin, D. (2012). Police and Ethics. ERCES. Retrieved from
http://www.erces.com/journal/articles/archives/volume3/v01/v04.htm
