Law enforcement relates to the implementation and administration of the law. Enforcing law could be examined at two levels. At the policy formulation and consequential implementation. This paper seeks to examine and discuss various policy issues at the law enforcement area. It is the paper’s contention that policy formulation needs to be realistic, practical, pragmatic and within stipulated budgets. In other words, law enforcement policy ought to be approached from a practical tradition rather than relying on various managerial theory. The paper assumes the position that policy issues are as diverse as there are topics of concern within the law enforcement framework and conceptual operation.
Foremost, law enforcement policy suffice for the smooth and successful operation of law enforcement officers. It is instructive at this point to appreciate the fact that law enforcement is predicated on the overriding objective which is often the administration of justice. For that reason, any policy entertained by law enforcement officers need to reflect the principles that are consistent with the law enforcement overriding objective of delivering justice. To this end, policy needs to be considered in the context of the conduct of officers, ethics, managerial practices and work ethics, the interaction between officers and clients among other issues.
In terms of conduct of employees and law enforcement officers, the overriding policy often is that employees ought to be motivated by the need to deliver justice and work in consonance to the organizational objectives. In that vein, law enforcement officers need to be guided by work ethics and an organizational culture that appreciates hard work, focus and loyalty. This should be reflected in the organizational policy within the law enforcement organizations. It should be the position that employees and officers undertake to work by the code of professional conduct and undertake to remain loyal and dedicated to the organizational objectives. This is not easy to implement. Therefore, organizational policy needs to be clear and definite in such areas of operation of the policies formulated. In addition, it should be the case that the organizational culture that is practised is appreciative of the need to follow the professional code of conduct. The stress of ethics and organizational code of conduct arises primarily because of modern occurrences in the society. In the current times, employees and the society at large have taken to sacrifice ethics and morality in pursuit of selfish individual interests.
Policy also needs to consider relations between workers and the seniors. In that context, it is essential for comprehensive guidelines in the form of policies to be designed and incorporated that would guide the relationship between workers, supervisors and managers. In that level, elements such as communication between parties, issues of conflict management, solution of grievances, feedback communication, among others need to be streamlined. It is this paper’s postulation that policy needs to be tailored for the creation of a balanced and reasonable managerial and organizational hierarchical structure. The policy of the organization needs to be clear on how to tackle employee grievances and channels of resolving any conflict. In addition, the current managerial practices dictate for the empowerment of employees. This calls for the inclusion of employee contribution and an inclusive and participative approach to the overall management especially in the execution of decision making functions. In the long run, organizational structure at the policy level must be cognizant of the need for an inclusive and participative approach.
Finally, policies need to be provided that define and guide the relationship between employees and clients. At the law enforcement level, clients can be categorised into two broad groups; victims and perpetrators. On the surface, law enforcement officers would be inclined to give preferential treatment to victims over perpetrators. However, the policy needs to be clear and advocate for the application of fair arbitration and administration of justice. The common policy approach is that before the solution of any case, the victims and the perpetrators are treated the same and the principle of innocent until proven guilty applies. In addition, law enforcement officers must equally apply the ethos and principles of professionalism in their conduct towards victims and perpetrators. In no circumstance should the law enforcement officers entertain and or exploit, harass, misuse, misadvise and mistreat their clients. This should be clearly stipulated in the organizational policy and penalties and attendant consequences for officers who breach that law need to be stipulated. This should not only exist on paper at policy level but need to be reinforced by a practise of the policy.
In conclusion, the paper advocates for a practical and pragmatic approach to policy issues. In overall, the organization needs to clearly define and design their overriding objectives and goals. Policy development and implementation then needs to be predicated on the overriding objectives. In the long run, the organization must appreciate that the role of policies is for the facilitation of organizational policies.
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