NCJ Number
104113
Date Published
1986
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Ethical considerations pertinent to police psychologists encompass responsibility, competence, moral and legal standards, public statements, confidentiality, the welfare of the consumer, professional relationships, and assessment techniques.
Abstract
Police psychologists must be aware of power struggles within the department served to ensure they are not manipulated into an abuse of their power and responsibility. The competence of police psychologists is ambiguous given the absence of accepted standards of practice. For this reason, police psychologists must make clear to police employers personal conclusions about competency. Since police officers are generally committed to conventional moral values, police psychologists should be aware that their credibility and effectiveness may depend on their compliance with such values. Public statements about the psychological services offered should accord with professional qualifications and capabilities, and matters of confidentiality should be made clear to persons being counseled or evaluated. If evaluation results are to be made known to others in the department, this should be indicated to the subject. In this connection, the interests being served in particular psychological services should be clarified to all with an interest in the manner and outcome of the services. Police psychologists must be careful not to undermine public confidence in the police, so any public discussion of police work by psychologists should be approved by the employing agency. Assessment results should be properly used in accordance with subject and agency rights. The paper recommends a strategy for developing ethical guidelines for police psychologists. 11 references.