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The Los Angeles Police Department is committed to serving
the community while protecting the rights of all persons. Consistent with this
commitment, the Departments Vision, Mission and Core Values, in concert with
the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics and the Departments Management Principles,
reflect the guiding philosophy of the Los Angeles Police Department.
It is the vision of the Los Angeles Police Department to,
as closely as possible, achieve a City free from crime and public disorder
Motto
The Origin of the LAPD Motto
In February 1955, the Los Angeles Police Department,
through the pages of the internally produced BEAT magazine, conducted a contest
for a motto for the police academy. The conditions of the contest stated that:
"The motto should be one that in a few words would express some or all the
ideals to which the Los Angeles police service is dedicated. It is possible that
the winning motto might someday be adopted as the official motto of the
Department."
The winning entry was the motto, "To Protect and to Serve"
submitted by Officer Joseph S. Dorobek.
"To Protect and to Serve" became the official motto of the
Police Academy, and it was kept constantly before the officers in training as
the aim and purpose of their profession. With the passing of time, the motto
received wider exposure and acceptance throughout the department.
On November 4, 1963, the Los Angeles City Council passed
the necessary ordinance and the credo has now been placed alongside the City
Seal on the Departments patrol cars.
Mission
It is the mission of the Los Angeles Police Department to
safeguard the lives and property of the people we serve, to reduce the incidence
and fear of crime, and to enhance public safety while working with the diverse
communities to improve their quality of life. Our mandate is to do so with honor
and integrity, while at all times conducting ourselves with the highest ethical
standards to maintain public confidence.
Core Values
The Core Values of the Los Angeles Police Department are
intended to guide and inspire us in all we say and do. Making sure that our
values become part of our day-to-day work life is our mandate, and they help to
ensure that our personal and professional behavior can be a model for all to
follow.
▪ Service to Our Communities
▪ Reverence for the Law
▪ Commitment to Leadership
▪ Integrity in All We Say and Do
▪ Respect for People
▪ Quality Through Continuous Improvement
Service to Our Communities
We are dedicated to enhancing public safety and reducing
the fear and the incidence of crime. People in our communities are our most
important customers. Our motto "To Protect and to Serve" is not just a slogan -
it is our way of life. We will work in partnership with the people in our
communities and do our best, within the law, to solve community problems that
effect public safety. We value the great diversity of people in both our
residential and business communities and serve all with equal dedication.
Reverence for the Law
We have been given the honor and privilege of enforcing the
law. We must always exercise integrity in the use of the power and authority
that have been given to us by the people. Our personal and professional behavior
should be a model for all to follow. We will obey and support the letter and
spirit of the law.
Commitment to Leadership
We believe the Los Angeles Police Department should be a
leader in law enforcement. We also believe that each individual needs to be a
leader in his or her area of responsibility. Making sure that our values become
part of our day-to-day work life is our mandate. We must each work to ensure
that our co-workers, our professional colleagues, and our communities have the
highest respect for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Integrity in All We Say and Do
Integrity is our standard. We are proud of our profession
and will conduct ourselves in a manner that merits the respect of all people. We
will demonstrate honest, ethical behavior in all our interactions. Our actions
will match our words. We must have the courage to stand up for our beliefs and
do what is right. Throughout the ranks, the Los Angeles Police Department has a
long history of integrity and freedom from corruption. Upholding this proud
tradition is a challenge we must all continue to meet.
Respect for People
Working with the Los Angeles Police Department should be
challenging and rewarding. Our people are our most important resource. We can
best serve the many and varied needs of our communities by empowering our
employees to fulfill their responsibilities with knowledge, authority, and
appropriate discretion. We encourage our people to submit ideas, we listen to
their suggestions, and we help them develop to their maximum potential. We
believe in treating all people with respect and dignity. We show concern and
empathy for the victims of crime and treat violators of the law with fairness
and dignity. By demonstrating respect for others, we will earn respect for the
Los Angeles Police Department.
Quality Through Continuous Improvement
We will strive to achieve the highest level of quality in
all aspects of our work. We can never be satisfied with the "status quo." We
must aim for continuous improvement in serving the people in our communities. We
value innovation and support creativity. We realize that constant change is a
way of life in a dynamic city like Los Angeles, and we dedicate ourselves to
proactively seeking new and better ways to serve.
Management Principles of the LAPD
1. Reverence for the Law
The main thrust of a peace officers duties consists of an
attempt to enforce the law. In our application of the law, we must do it within
a legal spirit which was so clearly set forth by the framers of the Bill of
Rights, an original part of our Constitution. That bill had as its purpose
elevating the rights of each citizen to a position co-equal with the state which
might accuse him. Its purpose was to provide for an enforcement of the law with
fundamental fairness and equity. Because of the Bill of Rights, the dignity of
the individual person in America was placed in an almost sacred position of
importance.
A peace officers enforcement should not be done in
grudging adherence to the legal rights of the accused, but in a sincere spirit
of seeking that every accused person is given all of his rights as far as it is
within the powers of the police.
In the discharge of our enforcement of criminal statutes,
the peace officer must scrupulously avoid any conduct which would make him a
violator of the law. The solution of a crime, or the arrest of a lawbreaker, can
never justify the peace officer committing a felony as an expedient for the
enforcement of the law.
We peace officers should do our utmost to foster a
reverence for the law. We can start best by displaying a reverence for the legal
rights of our fellow citizens and a reverence for the law itself.
2. Crime Prevention Top Priority
The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent
crime and disorder as an alternative to repression by military force and
severity of legal punishment. When the police fail to prevent crime, it becomes
important to apprehend the person responsible for the crime and gather all
evidence that might be used in a subsequent trial.
3. Public Approbation of Police
The ability of the police to perform their duties is
dependent upon public approval of police existence, actions, behavior, and the
ability of the police to secure and maintain public respect.
4. Voluntary Law Observance
The police must secure the willing cooperation of the
public in voluntary observance of the law in order to be able to secure and
maintain the respect and approval of the public.
5. Public Cooperation
The degree of public cooperation that can be secured
diminishes, proportionately, the necessity for the use of physical force and
compulsion in achieving police objectives.
6. Impartial Friendly Enforcement
The police seek and preserve public favor, not by catering
to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service
to the law without regard to the justice or injustice of the substance of
individual laws; by readily offering individual service and friendship to all
members of society without regard to their race or social standing; by the ready
exercise of courtesy and friendly good humor; and by readily offering individual
sacrifice in protecting and preserving life.
7. Minimum Use of Force
The police should use physical force to the extent
necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order when the exercise
of persuasion, advice, and warning is found to be insufficient to achieve police
objectives; and police should use only the reasonable amount of physical force
which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a police objective.
8. Public Are the Police
The police at all times should maintain a relationship with
the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the
public and that the public are the police; the police are the only members of
the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are
incumbent on every citizen in the interest of community welfare.
9. Limit of Police Power
The police should always direct their actions strictly
toward their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary by
avenging individuals or the state, or authoritatively judging guilt or punishing
the guilty.
10. Test of Police Effectiveness
The test of police effectiveness is the absence of crime
and the presence of public order. It is not the evidence of police action in
dealing with crime and disorder.
11. People Working with Police
The task of crime prevention cannot be accomplished by the
police alone. This task necessarily requires the willing cooperation of both the
police and the public working together toward a common goal.
12. People Working with People
Since the police cannot be expected to be on every
residential or business block, every hour of the day, a process must be
developed whereby each person becomes concerned with the welfare and safety of
his neighborhood. When people are working with other people in their
neighborhood, they can effectively reduce crime.
13. Managers Working with Police
Only line police officers perform the tasks for which
police were created. They are the operating professionals. Supervisors and
managers exist to define problems, to establish objectives, and to assist line
police officers in the accomplishment of the police mission.
The evaluation of a manager should be based on the
improvement and excellence of his subordinates in the achievement of
organizational goals. The lifes blood of good management is a thoroughly
systematic, two-way circulation of information, feelings, and perceptions
throughout the organization.
14. Police Working with Police
For many reasons, some specialization of work is necessary.
Specialization should be created only when vitally necessary. When
specialization is created, organization should be adjusted to ensure that the
specialists and generalists who serve the same citizens work closely together on
the common problems in as informal an organizational structure as possible. This
will tend to ensure a unity of effort, resources, and the effective service to a
common goal.
15. Police Working with Criminal Justice System
It must be recognized that the police and the people alone
cannot successfully resolve the problems of crime. The criminal justice system
as a whole, in order to properly serve the public, must operate as a total
system with all of its various elements working together. The close cooperation
of the police with prosecutors, courts, and correctional officers is necessary
in order to ensure the development of a safer community.
16. Police/Press Relationships
One of the first and most fundamental considerations of
this nations founders in drafting the Bill of Rights was to provide for a free
press as an essential element of the First Amendment to the Constitution. They
recognized that a well-informed citizenry is vital to the effective functioning
of a democracy. Police operations profoundly affect the public and therefore
arouse substantial public interest. Likewise, public interest and public
cooperation bear significantly on the successful accomplishment of any police
mission. The police should make every reasonable effort to serve the needs of
the media in informing the public about crime and other police problems. This
should be done with an attitude of openness and frankness whenever possible. The
media should have access to personnel, at the lowest level in a Department, who
are fully informed about the subject of a press inquiry. The media should be
told all that can be told that will not impinge on a persons right to a fair
trail, seriously impede a criminal investigation, imperil a human life, or
seriously endanger the security of the people. In such cases, the minimum
information should be given which will not impinge on the four areas and we
should merely state that nothing more can be said.
In all other matters in our relationship with the media in
dealing with current news, every member of the Department should make every
reasonable effort consistent with accomplishing the police task in providing the
media representatives with full and accurate material.
17. Management by Objectives
In order to effectively deal with the most important
problems, objectives must be established. The establishment of objectives and
the means used to ensure that they are reached must include the participation of
those involved in the task. The setting of an objective has very little meaning
without the participation of those involved.
18. Management by Participation
Since employees are greatly influenced by decisions that
are made and objectives that are established, it is important for them to be
able to provide input into the methods utilized to reach these decisions.
Employees should be encouraged to make recommendations which might lead to an
improvement in the delivery of police services and assist in the furtherance of
the Department meeting its objective.
19. Territorial Imperative
Police work is one of the most personal of all personal
services. It deals with human beings in life and death situations. The police
officers and the people they serve must be as close as possible, and where
possible must know one another. Such closeness can generate the police-citizen
cooperation necessary for the involvement of the whole community in community
protection. Organization of assignments should ensure that the police and the
same citizens have an opportunity to continuously work for the protection of a
specific community. Strength through interacting together and working together
on common problems can be enhanced through officers and the people feeling at
home with one another in an atmosphere of mutual cooperation. This may be
described as a utilization of the "Territorial Imperative."
20. Openness and Honesty
For police-public cooperation, there must be respect of the
police by the public. This is best ensured by optimum openness of the Department
in its operations. A general feeling and reality of openness must pervade the
police organization. Above all, the police officer must be consistently open,
honest, and trustful in all matters. A combination of honesty and openness will
effectively develop respect in the community for the police and make it possible
for citizens to come to them with problems and information. Where this trust
does not exist because of a lack of honesty or openness, the channels of
communication between the police and the public are clogged and the police must
desperately struggle on alone.
reference: The Los Angeles Police Department, retrieved on
May 19, 2006 from www.lapdonline.org
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