Our Forefather's wishes.

The nine principles by Sir Robert Peel

1. The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.
   
   
2. The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.
   
   
3. Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.
   
   
4. The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.
   
   
5. Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.
   
   
6. Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.
   
   
7. Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
   
   
8. Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
   
   
9. The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.

Unashamedly copied this from a site that allows you to (of course). Where has it gone wrong and how do we justify the state of our current service?

I think that principle number 5 has been the one that been eroded both by the public we have sworn to serve and successive governments. I truly believe that it time for everyone to stop, take a deep breath and look at what we are there to actually do.

Robert Peel would be spinning in his grave if he knows just how downtrodden the service he created has become all these years later. How far from his principles have we been moved?