CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
TWENTY-FIRST COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. R-14-105 ENACTMENT NO. ________________________
SPONSORED BY: Isaac Benton
RESOLUTION
title
Identifying Important Principles Of Law Enforcement For The City Of Albuquerque (Benton)
body
IDENTIFYING IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE.
WHEREAS, certain conduct of the Albuquerque Police Department relating to use of force and tactical approaches to law enforcement has been heavily criticized; and
WHEREAS, improvement of the police department will require a refocus on certain key principals of law enforcement, including but not limited to those focused on preventative action, trust building, and peacekeeping as opposed to reaction and escalation; and
WHEREAS, certain key principles of quality, effective law enforcement have been known for centuries, including "Sir Robert Peel's Principles of Law Enforcement" from 1829; and
WHEREAS, Peel's principles remain relevant to Albuquerque's law enforcement needs; and
WHEREAS, when considered together with other key principles of law enforcement, including but not limited to principles of community policing, constitutional policing and the policies and principles that may result from the City's cooperation with the Department of Justice, consideration of Peel's principles will be helpful in developing a higher quality police function; and
WHEREAS, when considered with the aforementioned principals, Peel's principles will be helpful in defining the desired relationship between our community and its police force; and
WHEREAS, both the residents of the City and City's law enforcement officers deserve to be part of a cooperative and effective law enforcement system based on respect for community rights and values as well as respect for the authority and role of the police, and Peel's principles embody this principle.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE:
Section 1. In addition to other appropriate policies and principles resulting from the City's cooperation with the Department of Justice and Community Stakeholders, Sir Robert Peel's Principles of Law Enforcement are hereby identified as useful and important principles and shall help guide the City's policing philosophy:
"Sir Robert Peel's
Principles of Law Enforcement
1829
1. The basic mission for which police exist is to prevent crime and disorder as an alternative to the repression of crime and disorder by military force and severity of legal punishment.
2. 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.
3. The police must secure the willing cooperation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain public respect.
4. The degree of cooperation of the public that can be secured diminishes, proportionately, to the necessity for the use of physical force and compulsion in achieving police objectives.
5. The police seek and preserve public favor, not by catering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to the law, in complete independence of policy, and without regard to the justice or injustice of the substance of individual laws; by ready offering of individual service and friendship to all members of society without regard to their race or social standing, by ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humor; and by ready offering of individual sacrifice in protecting and preserving life.
6. The police should use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient to achieve police objectives; and police should use only the minimum degree of physical force which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a police objective.
7. 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 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 intent of the community welfare.
8. The police should always direct their actions 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.
9. The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them."
Section 2. SEVERABILITY. If any section, paragraph, sentence, clause, word, or phrase of this resolution is for any reason held to be invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this resolution. The Council hereby declares that it would have passed this resolution and each section, paragraph, sentence, clause word or phrase irrespective of any provisions being declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid.
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