Editor’s note: According to law enforcement scholar Leonard Jason-Lloyd, this declaration, one of the key provisions of the Police Reform Act of 2002, is avowed to by each and every person newly appointed in Britain and Wales to serve as a constable (police officer). As is evident from the declaration, in the UK “the modern police officer does not have a vast number of powers over and above those held by ordinary citizens.” Lloyd says this can be traced to the fact that the origins of policing in the UK are “rooted in the common law which has ensured greater legal parity between a constable and other citizens compared to many nations abroad.” This has in turn led in the UK to “the English concept of ‘policing by consent,’ which is much envied by those nations whose police do not enjoy such relative integration within their communities.” It is also primarily for this reason, he contends, that unlike most other police forces across the globe, the UK’s police force is not “permanently para military by nature” and there are so few incidents of police shootings, much less fatal ones. In an opinion piece in the London Telegraph, David Davis, then Britain’s shadow home secretary, said that attesting to this declaration helps ensure that the police in Britain and Wales are “blind to colour, deaf to religious difference and silent as to political persuasion. They must be oblivious to nationality, and their personal beliefs must be entirely subordinate to their duties. And there must be no exceptions.” Scholar Peter Villiers asserts that this “common declaration” serves the vital purpose of seeing to it that “all members of the police family … feel that they are working to a common purpose under shared values.”
Police Constable Declaration
I (name) do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lady the Queen in the office of Constable, without favour or affection, malice or ill will; and that I will, to the best of my power cause the peace to be kept and preserved, and prevent all offenses against the persons and properties of Her Majesty’s subjects and that while I continue to hold the said office I will, to the best of my skill and knowledge discharge all the duties thereof faithfully according to law.
Further reading:
The Legal Framework of Police Powers, Leonard Jason-Lloyd, Oxford, UK: Routledge, 1997
Police and Policing, Peter Villiers, UK: Waterside Press, 2009
