Posted: August 1st, 2023

Integrity

Integrity
Name
Institution

Introduction
Integrity is one of the important principles in the criminal justice system as it can significantly determine the success or failure of the justice system. Of utmost importance is police integrity. Law enforcement departments are entrusted with many different tasks that require them to demonstrate a high degree of integrity (Osse, 2016). Where this does not work as expected, police officers may become susceptible to acting and behaving illegally and outside their remit (Osse, 2016). Therefore, encouraging and promoting a culture of integrity among police officers is essential as integrity serves to minimize crimes in organizations, government, and the society at large, strengthen governance and related processes, improve efficiency in policing as well as shape trust and police legitimacy.
Literature Review-The role of integrity in the law enforcement departments
For a long time, the role that integrity plays in the justice system has been greatly undermined mainly because its role specifically well-known. Generally, integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, and for the police, integrity is all about making sure that the officers working in police departments maintain the values of the service, endeavour to do what is right in all circumstances and have the public’s confidence. However, there is more to integrity. As Kolthoff (2016) indicates, integrity is a vital ethical aspect that plays an essential role in minimizing crimes in organizations, government, and the society at large. Inculcating a culture of integrity ensures that people uphold the highest moral standards, and as such, refrain from engaging in crimes such as fraud, corruption and bribery.
Integrity also strengthens governance. According to Herbert (2018), integrity plays a role in strengthening governance and related processes such as criminal justice. Integrity ensures that the rule of law is maintained, efficiency and accountability of the criminal justice system are enhanced, and corruption is avoided and tackled appropriately; all these serve to promote good governance. In their study Wagner & Hout (2019), revealed that integrity played a significant role in enhancing efficiency in policing. This mainly occurs as integrity influences police officers to refrain from misbehaviour and put more focus on delivering their services to the public; this way, efficiency in service delivery increases. Police integrity has been identified as a significant factor that shapes trust and police legitimacy. Results of the study conducted by Tyler and Fagan (2008) indicate that experiencing procedural justice during a personal experience serves to augment police legitimacy; as such, the police can by and large improve their legitimacy utilizing fair procedures, which are basically informed and guided by integrity.
Failure to uphold integrity in the law enforcement department can impact the judiciary and corrective departments negatively (Savolainen &VanEseltine, 2018). For instance, it can encourage a culture of corruption where police officers and other professionals in corrective departments solicit for bribes and engage in fraudulent activities. This, in turn, decreases the efficiency of services provided by these professionals. In this regard, crimes such as drug trafficking, sex-related crime, profit-motivated crime, etc. thrive. The lack of integrity has negative psychological ramifications as well. For instance, it can lead to emotional disengagement where officers engage in misconduct with total disregard of consequences; the distortion of consequences is also a possibility (Blumberg, Papazoglou & Creighton, 2018). This is dangerous as the police deviate from their primary role of protecting the public and become accomplices of criminals.

References
Blumberg, D. M., Papazoglou, K., & Creighton, S. (2018). Bruised badges: the moral risks of
police work and a call for officer wellness. Int. J. Emerg. Ment. Health Hum. Resil, 20, 1-14.
Huberts, L. W. (2018). Integrity: What it is and why it is important. Public
Integrity, 20(sup1), S18-S32. doi:10.1080/10999922.2018.1477404
Kolthoff, E. (2016). Integrity violations, white-collar crime, and violations of human rights:
Revealing the connection. Public Integrity, 18(4), 396-418. doi:10.1080/10999922.2016.1172933
Osse, A. (2016). Handbook on police accountability, oversight and integrity.
Tyler, T. R. & Fagan, J. (2008). Legitimacy and Cooperation: Why Do People Help the
Police Fight Crime in Their Communities? Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 6 (231), 231-275.
Wagner, N., & Hout, W. (2019). Police integrity and the perceived effectiveness of policing:
Evidence from a survey among Ugandan police officers. In Exploring Police Integrity (pp. 165-191). Springer, Cham.

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