Comparative Analysis of Thai and Foreign Law Principles Regarding Investigating and Controlling Police Ethical Standards
Keywords:
investigation and control, law, ethical standards, Code of Ethics,, The policeAbstract
The objective of this documentary research is to analyze and compare the concepts and principles of investigating and controlling police ethical standards in legal measures in Thailand, England, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Japan. Content analysis is used for data analysis based on the concepts of accountability for duty, liability, transparency, controllability, complaint management of individual-level and internal and external agency-level, and compatibility with international ethical standards. The findings show that, among the mentioned countries, there are some common legal measures as follows; 1) The concepts and principles of police ethical standards are in accordance with the intent of the law, and mainly focus on the public interests. 2) The contents of the ethical standards, the code of ethics, and basic law demonstrate a framework of good ethical behaviors of the officials or the police. 3) Regulatory mechanisms of ethical standards consist of the accountability system according to the chain of command and external investigation. 4) People and the officials have the right to request or complain to
the authorities. Finally, 5) some different legal measures are usually provided to the ethical standards or the code of ethics abusers, such as, disciplinary and non-violent punishment, for example, first, the elements of the England and Wales code of ethics are the most comprehensive. Second, reporting own police personal data and mistakes is only found in the England and Wales code of police ethics. Next, there is no civilian committee to review and investigate the Thai police misconducts. Lastly, the basic law of the Federal Republic of Germany specifies
that the liability of individual police shall fall together with the state or public body that employs such officers. Therefore, related authorities should review and improve the components and contents of the code of ethics, including legal reinforcement, penalties, and liabilities when the violation happens.
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