Police officers are granted with special powers to enable them to provide citizens with a safe and secure environment. With these special powers are expectations of professionalism, ethical conduct, and police accountability. Unlike many other occupations, police are expected to maintain high ethical standards both on and off duty-whether at work or home, the public is watching.

Though actual or deliberate acts of unethical police conduct are rare, police misconduct can occur in a variety of forms, including use of excessive force, improper conduct, acceptance of gratuities, and in some instances a criminal act. Education that emphasizes what is appropriate and what is inappropriate is key to avoiding ethical pitfalls.

Police Ethics and Accountability explores the complexities surrounding ethical decisions and dilemmas in policing. Focusing on ways to avoid improper and unethical conduct, this course helps officers ensure their behaviour, judgement, and decisions are appropriate in their day to day duties.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course you will be able to:

• Differentiate between morals, ethics, and values
• Explain why it is important to be aware of and open to ethical issues as a police officer in contemporary society
• Differentiate between an ethical and unethical individual
• Explain how to properly respond to an ethical dilemma
• Describe the development of ethical and professional policing
• Explain how police misconduct happens and provide examples
• Discuss the ethical issues and dilemmas surrounding gratuities and noble cause policing
• Explain how to foster ethics and professionalism in the workplace

Target Audience

This is an introductory level course suitable for all police and law enforcement personnel.

Subject Matter Expert

Rick Parent, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University, School of Criminology - Police Studies. Rick completed over 28 years of service as a police officer in the Vancouver area during which he obtained experience in areas including general duty patrol, traffic, criminal investigations, recruiting, training, and police internal investigations. Rick is also a former police recruit instructor at the Justice Institute of British Columbia - Police Academy and a crisis negotiator, assigned to a regional Emergency Response Team. As an academic, he is the co-author of several policing textbooks and currently teaches Police Ethics and Accountability at Simon Fraser University.

Course Details

Content Provider: Justice Institute of British Columbia Price: $25.00 + GST (Tiered discount is not available) Languages: English and French Course Duration: 2 hours Release Date: February 2, 2009 Date of Last Revision/Review: August 2009