Sir Robert Peel's Nine Principles

Contact Us

555 Columbia Street
New Westminster, BC
Canada

V3L 1B2
Phone: 604-525-5411
Fax: 604-529-2401

Emergency Phone: 9-1-1

The basic mission for which the police exist
is to prevent crime and disorder.
The ability of the police to perform their
duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.
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.
The degree of co-operation of the public
that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of
physical force.
Police seek and preserve public favour not
by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute
impartial service to the law.
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.
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.
Police should always direct their action
strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the
judiciary.
The test of police efficiency is the absence
of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing
with it.