A Hippocratic Oath for Policing isn’t new, and it’s finally here
A few years ago, I met Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson who wrote about a Hippocratic oath for policing. While it wasn't a new idea - I’d heard this idea before and Johnson got the idea from David Kennedy at John Jay College - the words moved me. And today, his National Policing Institute blog post is still one of the most regularly accessed online. With the significant negative narrative around policing and recent coverage of policing failures complicating public perception of the police, it’s time to make the Hippocratic Oath for policing a reality.
The idea of “do no harm” comes from Medicine’s Hippocratic Oath which physicians adhere to when trying to cure their patients. While the overwhelming majority of police officers in this country are diligently trying to serve their communities to the best of their abilities, there continue to be unintended, collateral consequences of their well-meaning actions. We are still struggling to understand the nature and extent of the harm some policing practices have inflicted - and continue to do so - on the very people the police are paid to protect. Policing is struggling to regain the trust and confidence of many communities.
A significant step we can take in strengthening, or repairing, our personal relationships is to promise to do better as a friend or loved one and make amends for past actions that may have hurt those close to us. This is also true about the relationship the police have with their communities. The police ask community members to trust them, yet, many times fail to understand that without an acknowledgement of past harm or the promise of rightful policing in the future, the trust and confidence they seek is not forthcoming.
This is where the Hippocratic Oath for policing called the Peace Officer Promise developed by nonprofit Police2Peace can provide that critical connection between the police and the communities they serve. It states:
“We, the members of the (Anytown Police Department) promise that while doing our best to control crime, we will do everything in our power to do no harm to the communities we serve and protect.”
These are not simply flowery words. This is a solemn oath taken by a community’s guardians to fulfill the fundamental purpose of policing – protection without causing harm. It speaks to the true purpose of policing. And it articulates the spirituality and nobility of policing that honors the sacrifices so many police officers have made while protecting their communities.
The Promise implies cultural change within policing to ensure there is alignment of organizational values and practices. Recruiting, hiring, promotions, reward systems, discipline, training, policies, standard operating procedures and the police use-of-force must comport with the vision laid out by The Promise. Conducting organizational audits, community listening sessions, creating community advisory bodies and honest reporting of the current state of the organization and its progress toward operationalizing The Promise are crucial to enhancing the public’s trust and confidence in policing.
The Promise offers policing and communities the opportunity to repair strained police-community relationships and co-produce trust and confidence in the police to produce safer neighborhoods. It is a sustainable advance in policing. And quite simply, it is rightful, respectful and exemplifies the way all of us want to be treated.
