What is the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor?
What is the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor?
Police officers take risks and suffer inconveniences to protect the lives, defend civil liberties, secure the safety of fellow citizens, and they endure such risks and tolerate such inconveniences on behalf of strangers. Consequently, police work is one of the more noble and selfless occupations in society. Making a difference in the quality of life is an opportunity that policing provides, and few other professions can offer.
A public affirmation of adhering to an Oath of Honor is a powerful vehicle demonstrating ethical standards. To be successful at enhancing integrity within an organization, leaders must ensure the oath is recited frequently and displayed throughout the organization as well as ensuring ethical mentoring and role modeling are consistent, frequent and visible. The following Law Enforcement Oath of Honor is recommended as by the International Association of Chiefs of Police as symbolic statement of commitment to ethical behavior:
On my honor,
I will never betray my badge1,
my integrity, my character,
or the public trust.
I will always have
the courage to hold myself
and others accountable for our actions.
I will always uphold the constitution2
my community3 and the agency I serve.
Before any officer takes the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor, it is important that he/she understands what it means. An oath is a solemn pledge someone makes when he/she sincerely intends to do what he/she says.
Honor means that one's word is given as a guarantee.
Betray is defined as breaking faith with the public trust.
Badge is the symbol of your office.
Integrity is being the same person in both private and public life.
Character means the qualities that distinguish an individual.
Public trust is a charge of duty imposed in faith toward those you serve.
Courage is having the strength to withstand unethical pressure, fear or danger.
Accountability means that you are answerable and responsible to your oath of office.
Community is the jurisdiction and citizens served.
The Oath of Honor's brevity allows it to be constantly referred to and reinforced during conversations and ceremonies. In addition, it can also be
- referred to by administrators while communicating with others;
- placed on the back of all academy students' name cards, ensuring that they are looking at it all day;
- strategically and visibly placed in all police academies and law enforcement agencies;
- signed by each academy student, framed and hung on the wall;
- given at all official police ceremonies and gatherings;
- printed on labels that are placed on equipment; and
- used as a backdrop in citizens' meetings and news media events.
In conclusion, it is strongly recommended by the IACP that all agencies adopt the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor. Having officers take an oath will reconfirm the significance of integrity within the agency and help bring the entire profession together to show that the vast majority of law enforcement officers not only are good, decent individuals, but also will step forward to stop unethical acts by any members of our profession.
Oath of Honor
The International Association of Chiefs of Police has developed the following Oath of Honor that is designed to allow law enforcement officers worldwide to commit their professional lives to exemplary public service.
On my honor,
I will never betray my badge,
my integrity, my character,
or the public trust.
I will always have the courage
to hold myself and others
accountable for our actions.
I will always uphold the constitution
my community
and the agency I serve.
Every Garner Police Officer takes and adheres to the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor. An oath is a solemn pledge that each of our sworn personnel makes demonstrating that he or she intends to do what they say they will do in the performance of their duties. The Oath of Honor is a critical part of who we are as well as the promise we make to the community we serve.
Honor means that one's word is given as a guarantee.
Betray is defined as breaking faith with the public trust.
Badge is the symbol of our office.
Integrity is being the same person in both private and public life.
Character means the qualities that distinguish an individual.
Public trust is a charge of duty imposed in faith toward those we serve.
Courage is having the strength to withstand unethical pressure, fear or danger.
Accountability means that we are answerable and responsible to our oath of office.
Community is the jurisdiction and citizens we serve.
I do solemnly swear that I will perform with fidelity the duties of the office to which
I have been elected, and which I am about to assume. I do solemnly swear to support
the constitutions of Tennessee and the United States and to faithfully perform the
duties of the office of for County , Tennessee.
Oath of Office
To the members of law enforcement, nationwide, you lay your lives on the line, honorably. Those of you who take your oath with great sincerity are above those who do not and care not.
I wish there was a greater felling of closeness between law enforcement officers and all the people in our communities. I was a child of the 60’s and I think there is still a lot of tension that feeds the idea of police against us and that attitude, I feel, causes law enforcement to feel it necessary to form a turtle shell of protection around yourselves, so to speak, and with good reason , I agree.
You see a lot of things on TV these days good and bad. What I am trying to say, with great difficulty, is that there are some among you who are not worthy to be in your company; yet you feel obligated to protect all of your brothers even if they are bringing you dishonor. You must as brothers remove those who bring you dishonor. Your oath requires it. No one should be allowed to bring your dedication of service in to question.
Yes, FBI agents take an oath. It is as follows:
I will support and defend the Constitution of the
United States against all enemies, foreign and
domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to
the same; that I take this obligation freely, without
any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that
I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the
office on which I am about to enter. So help me God
When you have a problem with one of the wolves can you go to the head alpha wolf to file a complaint?
I am going to apologize ahead of time. Don’t take this personally. I am just trying to make some friends and influence some people.
There was a guy named Muller who was chief of the Gestapo. He was a police official under the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. I have a point to make about forgotten history. It seems to me that history is about to repeat itself and with a greater encompassing destruction. Can history repeat itself so closely? What I am seeing and hearing makes me want to look at reincarnation all over again.
Heinrich Müller (Gestapo)
Heinrich Müller (born 28 April 1900; date of death unknown, but evidence points to May 1945)[1][2] was a German police official under both the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. He became chief of the Gestapo, the political secret state police of Nazi Germany, [3] and was involved in the planning and execution of the Holocaust. He was known as "Gestapo Müller" to distinguish him from another SS general named Heinrich Müller. He was last seen in the Führerbunker in Berlin on May 1, 1945 and remains the most senior figure of the Nazi regime who was never captured or confirmed to have died.
.
Federal Bureau of InvestigationColor of Law Abuses
U.S. law enforcement officers and other officials like judges, prosecutors, and security guards have been given tremendous power by local, state, and federal government agencies—authority they must have to enforce the law and ensure justice in our country. These powers include the authority to detain and arrest suspects, to search and seize property, to bring criminal charges, to make rulings in court, and to use deadly force in certain situations.
Preventing abuse of this authority, however, is equally necessary to the health of our nation’s democracy.That’s why it’s a federal crime for anyone acting under “color of law” willfully to deprive or conspire to deprive a person of a right protected by the Constitution or U.S. law. “Color of law” simply means that the person is using authority given to him or her by a local, state, or federal government agency.
The FBI is the lead federal agency for investigating color of law abuses, which include acts carried out by government officials operating both within and beyond the limits of their lawful authority. Off-duty conduct may be covered if the perpetrator asserted his or her official status in some way.
During 2009, the FBI investigated 385 color of law cases. Most of these crimes fall into five broad areas:
- Excessive force;
- Sexual assaults;
- False arrest and fabrication of evidence;
- Deprivation of property; and
- Failure to keep from harm.
Sexual assaults by officials acting under color of law can happen in jails, during traffic stops, or in other settings where officials might use their position of authority to coerce an individual into sexual compliance. The compliance is generally gained because of a threat of an official action against the person if he or she doesn’t comply.
False arrest and fabrication of evidence: The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right against unreasonable searches or seizures. A law enforcement official using authority provided under the color of law is allowed to stop individuals and, under certain circumstances, to search them and retain their property. It is in theabuse of that discretionary power—such as an unlawful detention or illegal confiscation of property—that a violation of a person's civil rights may occur.
Fabricating evidence against or falsely arresting an individual also violates the color of law statute, taking away theperson’s rights of due process and unreasonable seizure. In the case of deprivation of property, the color of law statute would be violated by unlawfully obtaining or maintaining a person’s property, which oversteps or misapplies the official’s authority.
The Fourteenth Amendment secures the right to due process; the Eighth Amendment prohibits the use of cruel andunusual punishment. During an arrest or detention, these rights can be violated by the use of force amounting to punishment (summary judgment). The person accused of a crime must be allowed the opportunity to have a trial and should not be subjected to punishment without having been afforded the opportunity of the legal process.
Failure to keep from harm: The public counts on its law enforcement officials to protect local communities. If it’s shown that an official willfully failed to keep an individual from harm, that official could be in violation of the color of law statute.
Filing a Complaint
To file a color of law complaint, contact your local FBI office by telephone, in writing, or in person. The following information should be provided:
- All identifying information for the victim(s);
- As much identifying information as possible for the subject(s), including position, rank, and agency employed;
- Date and time of incident;
- Location of incident;
- Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of any witness(es);
- A complete chronology of events; and
- Any report numbers and charges with respect to the incident.
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
Criminal Section
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest
Washington, DC 20530
FBI investigations vary in length. Once our investigation is complete, we forward the findings to the U.S. Attorney’s Office within the local jurisdiction and to the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., which decide whether or not to proceed toward prosecution and handle any prosecutions that follow.
Civil Applications
Title 42, U.S.C., Section 14141 makes it unlawful for state or local law enforcement agencies to allow officers to engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives persons of rights protected by the Constitution or U.S. laws. This law, commonly referred to as the Police Misconduct Statute, gives the Department of Justice authority to seek civil remedies in cases where law enforcement agencies have policies or practices that foster a pattern of misconduct by employees. This action is directed against an agency, not against individual officers. The types of issues which may initiate a pattern and practice investigation include:
- Lack of supervision/monitoring of officers' actions;
- Lack of justification or reporting by officers on incidents involving the use of force;
- Lack of, or improper training of, officers; and
- Citizen complaint processes that treat complainants as adversaries.
Report Civil Rights Violations
- File a Report with Your Local FBI Office
- File a Report over Our Internet Tip Line
- Visit Our Victim Assistance Site
- Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law Statute
- Principles for Promoting Police Integrity (pdf)
- Addressing Police Misconduct Brochure
- Law Enforcement Misconduct FAQs
Each justice or judge of the United States shall take the following oath or affirmation before performing the duties of his office: “I, XXX XXX, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as XXX under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”
Oath of Office for President
US Constitution, Article II, Section 1
Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
The Oath of Hippocrates:
The Oath of Hippocrates (more commonly known as the Hippocratic Oath) is the oath (or promise) that all doctors take prior to becoming a doctor. It consists of promising that one will only use their power to help those in need and that no matter what, under no circumstances, will a doctor use his or her power in a malignant way or with the intention of purposing hurting someone else. This quote proves ironic to the Nazi doctors who broke it many times with every euthanasia camp built, or every medicine ever tested on patients, or every experiment carried on to the patients. American doctors also broke this sacred promise by carrying out the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment.
I swear by Apollo Physician, by Asclepius, by Health, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture....I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrongdoing. I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art. In whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrongdoing and harm....Now if I carry out this oath, and break it not, may I gain forever reputation among all men for my life and for my art; but if I transgress it and forswear myself, may the opposite befall me.
Mutilations, Mutilations
Coming to your home
Darwinism
Look at the laughing faces’. I would rather be the guy on the ground.
I am the guy on the ground.
As to the doctors and people in the medical community in the state where I live, or am dying in, there are a few who I allege have entered into a conspiracy to assassinate my character and my credibility. I allege that they have conspired with the man Jim Eads. They have come into a court and put their hand on the bible and sworn an oath before Almighty God to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But these are mind science doctors and they don’t believe in a God.
Those doctors have such high intellects and make such ostentatious displays of their superior knowledge that they exasperate even the most seasoned of judges. We must let all of these doctors, lawyers, officers and witnesses come together again and put their hand again on the Word of God and swear an oath again to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Let the words they speak be heard again that the truth might also be heard again and believability in the truth be bolstered.
FROM THE INDICTMENT[fromTrials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10.Nuremberg, October 1946–April 1949. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O, 1949–1953.]: The persons accused as guilty of these crimes and accordingly named as defendants in this case are —
KARL BRANDT— Personal physician to AdoIf Hitler; Gruppenfuehrer in the SS and Generalleutnant (Major General) in the Waffen SS; Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation (ReichskommissarfuerSanitaets- und Gesundheitswesen); and member of the Reich Research Council (Reichsforschungsrat). SIEGFRIED HANDLOSER— Generaloberstabsarzt (Lieutenant General, Medical Service); Medical Inspector of the Army (Heeres-sanitaetsinspekteur); and Chief of the Medical Services of the Armed Forces (Chef desWehrmachtsanitaetswesens).PAUL ROSTOCK— Chief Surgeon of the Surgical Clinic in Berlin; Surgical Adviser to the Army; and Chief of the Office for Medical Science and Research (Amtschef der DienststelleMedizinischeWissenschaft und Forschung) under the defendant Karl Brandt, Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation. OSKAR SCHROEDER— Generaloberstabsarzt (Lieutenant General Medical Service); Chief of Staff of the Inspectorate of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe (Chef desStabes, Inspekteur des Luftwaffe-Sanitaetswesens); and Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe (Chef des Sanitaetswesens der Luftwaffe). KARL GENZKEN— Gruppenfuehrer in the SS and Generalleutnant (Major General) in the Waffen SS; and Chief of the Medical Department of the Waffen SS (Chef desSanitaetsamts der Waffen SS).KARL GEBHARDT— Gruppenfuehrer in the SS and Generalleutnant (Major General) in the Waffen SS; personal physician to Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler; Chief Surgeon of the Staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police (ObersterKliniker, Reichsarzt SS und Polizei); and President of the German Red Cross.KURT BLOME— Deputy [of the] Reich Health Leader (Reichsgesundheitsfuehrer); and Plenipotentiary for Cancer Research in the Reich Research Council.RUDOLF BRANDT— Standartenfuehrer (Colonel); in the Allgemeine SS; Personal Administrative Officer to Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler (Persoenlicher Referent von Himmler); and Ministerial Counsellor and Chief of the Ministerial Office in the Reich Ministry of the Interior. JOACHIM MRUGOWSKY— Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) in the Waffen SS; Chief Hygienist of the Reich Physician SS and Police (0berster Hygieniker, Reichsarzt SS und Polizei); and Chief of the Hygenic Institute of the Waffen SS (Chef desHygienischen Institutes der Waffen SS). HELMUT POPPENDICK— Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) in the SS; and Chief of the Personal Staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police (Chef desPersoenlichenStabes des Reichsarztes SS und Polizei).WOLFRAM SIEVERS— Standartenfuehrer (Colonel) in the SS; Reich Manager of the "Ahnenerbe" Society and Director of its Institute for Military Scientific Research (InstitutfuerWehrwissenschaftlicheZweckforschung); and Deputy Chairman of the Managing Board of Directors of the Reich Research Council. GERHARD ROSE— Generalarzt of the Luftwaffe (Brigadier General, Medical Service of the Air Force); Vice President, Chief of the Department for Tropical Medicine, and Professor of the Robert Koch Institute; and Hygienic Adviser for Tropical Medicine to the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe.SIEGFRIED RUFF— Director of the Department for Aviation Medicine at the German Experimental Institute for Aviation (Deutsche VersuchsanstaltfuerLuftfahrt). HANS WOLFGANG ROMBERG— Doctor on the Staff of the Department for Aviation Medicine at the German Experimental Institute for Aviation.VIKTOR BRACK— Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) in the SS and Sturmbannfuehrer (Major) in the Waffen SS; and Chief Administrative Officer in the Chancellery of the Fuehrer of the NSDAP (Oberdienstleiter, Kanzlei des Fuehrers der NSDAP).HERMANN BECKER-FREYSENG— Stabsarzt in the Luftwaffe (Captain, Medical Service of the Air Force); and Chief of the Department for Aviation Medicine of the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe.GEORG AUGUST WELTZ— Oberfeldarzt in the Luftwaffe (Lieutenant Colonel, Medical Service of the Air Force); and Chief of the Institute for Aviation Medicine in Munich (InstitutfuerLuftfahrtmedizin). KONRAD SCHAEFER— Doctor on the Staff of the Institute for Aviation Medicine in Berlin.WALDEMAR HOVEN— Hauptsturmfuehrer (Captain) in the Waffen SS; and Chief Doctor of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.WILHELM BEIGLBOECK— Consulting Physician to the Luftwaffe.ADOLF POKORNY— Physician, Specialist in Skin and Venereal Diseases.HERTA OBERHEUSER— Physician at the Ravensbrueck Concentration Camp; and Assistant Physician to the defendant Gebhardt at the Hospital at Hohenlychen.FRITZ FISCHER— Sturmbannfuehrer (Major) in the Waffen SS; and Assistant Physician to the defendant Gebhardt at the Hospital at Hohenlychen.