A Law Enforcement Officer For The Past 19 Years

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Literature Review of Trust
As a law enforcement officer for the past 19 years I want to focus on the public’s trust in my profession. I know that law enforcement administrators are always looking for ways to enhance their departments image to the communities they serve. This is a tough task because there are many factors that go into the public’s perception of law enforcement. Community trust is an extremely important relationship between the agency and its citizens. It is the key to effective policing and law enforcement administrators have the responsibility to their agencies and to their citizens to continuously make this relationship positive. In order to accomplish this administrators must create an environment within their…show more content…
A police officers failure to fulfill their duties will erode the public’s trust and diminish or destroy their credibility within the community. Every officer must also understand that they represent not just themselves but their entire agency and the profession of law enforcement as a whole. Every day thousands of police officers throughout the country do their job in a manner that is exemplary but it takes the actions of just one officer to tarnish all of these good works. Unfortunately these situations happen too often and seem to be increasing at an alarming rate.
Cambridge defines trust as a certain belief and a sense of assurance that is based on strong but not logically-conclusive evidence, or based on some ones character, their ability, or truth that someone or something has shown over a period of time or over experiences (Cambridge, 2011). Trust makes for a sense of being safe or of being free of fear, enough so that one 's focus can be on other matters (Spirithome, 2005). Merriam- Webster defines it as a “charge or duty imposed in faith or confidence or as a condition of some relationship and something committed or entrusted to one to be used or cared for in the interest of another”, (Webster, M, 1993). High levels of trust promote healthy interactions, whereas low levels of trust undermine constructive relationships. Trust in law enforcement is essential for the belief in the
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