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Standards of Conduct Concepts & Issues
IACP Law Enforcement Policy Center 3
Law enforcement policies generally, and particularly those that have bearing on liberty interests of personnel,
must be based on rational, justifiable grounds that can be articulated and relate to the promotion of legitimate law
enforcement agency and/or public interests.
E. Prevention of Employee Misconduct – Proactive Measures
As with any other aspect of law enforcement, the best way to solve a problem is to prevent the problem from
arising. For this reason, agencies should incorporate proactive, preventive measures for detecting and responding to
indications of potential ethical or conduct violations prior to their occurrence.
Pre-Employment Screening and Qualifications. The pre-employment screening stage is an opportune time to
ensure that candidates initially selected for a career in law enforcement are the most suitable and most likely to
perform in an ethical manner. Agencies should develop and publish pre-employment qualifications and guidelines that
specifically outline the desired recruit attributes.
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Individual Responsibility and Accountability. Line officers are key stakeholders in efforts to preserve and
enhance the reputation of their agency and their personal pride. These officers are on the front line with the
community they serve, and their conduct reflects upon the agency as a whole. It is imperative that organizational pride,
self-respect, and respect for the law enforcement profession and agency ethics are continuously emphasized. These
concepts must be prioritized in agency mission statements, throughout policy and procedure, and in any training.
Therefore, if an agency is to maintain a professional image, officers must ensure that their behavior complies with
professional standards of conduct. Every employee of the agency has a responsibility to adhere to agency standards of
conduct, policies, rules, and procedures. Employees should be made fully aware of the fact that they will be held strictly
accountable for such adherence. Officers should also be required to report actions or patterns of behavior of fellow
officers that breach agency standards of conduct, especially when acts or patterns of behavior by fellow officers threaten
the rights of community members and/or the well-being and reputation of other officers and the agency as a whole. The
agency should also take a strong stance against retaliatory conduct.
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Again, the emphasis must be on individual and
organizational pride and respect for the law enforcement field.
Training, Supervision, and Policy Guidance. The law enforcement agency is responsible for providing each
officer with sufficient and proper training, supervision, and policy guidance to ensure that they are fully aware of
standards of conduct, policies, rules, and procedures. In this respect, policy and procedure development is not static,
but a dynamic function subject to continued refinement as the agency’s environment and circumstances change. As
modifications are made, steps must be taken to ensure that each officer has actual notice of such matters and fully
understands what is required. In addition, it is imperative for the agency to continuously promote ethics, integrity,
individual and organizational pride, public trust, transparency, and enhanced partnership with the community
throughout the agency’s mission statement, policy and procedure, and all training.
Responsibility of Supervisors. Supervisors are a law enforcement agency’s most important asset for continually
reinforcing evolving policies, procedures, goals, and objectives and ensuring that they are carried out properly. The
primary responsibility for maintaining and reinforcing officer conformance with the agency’s standards of conduct and
operational procedures is lodged with first-line supervisors. Supervisors must closely monitor and evaluate the general
conduct and performance of all officers in their unit. Evaluations of officers must be the product of daily observation
and close working relationships. Supervisors should remain alert to any indications of behavioral, physical, or other
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Certain qualifications have been shown to result in more positive outcomes. These include requiring at least a two-year college degree before hiring;
conducting a thorough background investigation that tracks the disciplinary history of candidates; and requiring that candidates go through a competent
psychological screening regimen. For more information regarding identifying appropriate pre-employment screening mechanisms and pre-hiring qualifications
for law enforcement personnel, see Michael G. Aamodt, Research in Law Enforcement Selection (Boca Raton, FL: Brown Walker Press, 2004); and James F.
Albrecht, Police Brutality, Misconduct and Corruption: Criminological Explanations and Policy Implications, Springer Briefs in Criminology (New York, NY:
Springer Publications, 2017).
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See the IACP Policy Center documents on Retaliatory Conduct by Employees available at https://www.theiacp.org/resources/policy-center-re- source/retaliatory-
conduct.