Should Police Participate Actively in Electoral Politics? (From Ethics - Hard Choices in Law Enforcement, P 171-181, 1985, by William C Heffrnan and Timothy Stroup, eds. - See NCJ-100351)

• NCJ Number: 100360
• Author(s): W K Muir
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; John Jay Press
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For microfiche, see NCJ-100351.

Annotation

The benefits of police participation in electoral politics outweigh the possible disadvantages, and potential police abuse of the political process can be contained by various means.

Abstract

One argument against police political involvement is that it is unnecessary, since the political adversaries of police are criminals, who wield little political power. This is a narrow view of policing political interests. A second argument against police political participation is that it endangers police legitimacy by undermining the public's perception of their neutrality and political autonomy. Police political participation is also viewed by some as a threat to democratic processes. Advantages to police political participation are that it corrects interest group imbalances, educates the public, improves public debate, enhances police leadership responsibilities, encourages police to reside in the jurisdiction they police, enhances police skills, and abates police cynicism. The danger that police may practice political extortion by threatening to expose intelligence files on political figures can be countered through diligent journalism, an external police review board, and police training. 3 notes.