The Red Oak Police Department exists to
serve all persons within our community with respect, fairness and a sense of compassion.
We are committed to the preservation of peace, order, safety and most importantly, the
protection of life and property.
    With service to the City of Red Oak, as our motivation, we are driven to continually
enhance the quality of life through the investigation and resolution of problems,
as well as incidents.
 The Red Oak Police Department will seek to continually improve the public trust by holding ourselves to the highest ethical standards in our professional and private lives.

  Contributing author, Drue Powers Chief Deputy Montgomery County Sheriffs Department
(Former officer with the ROPD and former crime scene technician with the
Des Moines Police Department)

Power and Responsibility
By Eric Johnson
Because our powers are great, we must be responsible to those we serve.

With ever increasing intensity, our profession is under the watchful eye of those we serve.  Whether it is through the scrutiny of the media, a community group, elected officials, or an individual citizen, questions are being asked and the micro-scope is being turned to high power.
For many of our profession, the scrutiny is unsettling.  After all, we are professionals dedicated to making our communities better places to live.  To that end we put our lives on the line every day.  With so much at stake, how dare anyone ask us about what we do?  "We are the police.  Who has the right to question us?"
But we are a society governed by the people for the people.  It is "the people" who created our agencies, our jobs, and granted us authority.  As our creators, they have every right to ask about what we do.  And when it appears we have crossed the line, they dare not fail to ask - the stakes are too high.
Our mission is to separate the good from the evil in our society, to protect the weak from oppression, to enhance public safety, to preserve community standards, and so much more.
To that end, our constituents - or, "creators" - have bestowed upon us substantial authority, including the authority to restrict the liberty of others and, in extreme cases, even to take human life.
When we attempt to cover up and hide from public scrutiny, we further undermine our integrity, we erode public trust, and we severely taint our image.  Ultimately, we take a bad situation and we make it much worse.
But when we are responsive to public scrutiny, admit when we make mistakes, take measures to address those mistakes, and take bold steps to prevent them from happening again, we enhance our integrity, we build public trust, and we send several important messages to our constituents and to our members.
First, we acknowledge that we are human and fallible - just like those whom we serve.
Second, we send the message that we hold ourselves to an equal or even higher standard than we enforce upon others.
And, perhaps most importantly, we clarify the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior and send a clear message that substandard behavior will not be tolerated.
Ultimately, we must recognize and acknowledge that, both personally and professionally, we are all part of the communities we serve.
We hold our elected officials, community and religious leaders, medical professionals, members of the judiciary and others to very high standards.  We must do the same for ourselves.
We expect the best and we expect accountability from those who serve us.  We must also give our best and be accountable to those we serve.  Just as we will one day be accountable to the Creator of our universe, we must demand of ourselves to be accountable to those we serve as well.
It really is the right thing to do.
Eric Johnson is a Lieutenant with the
Louisville, Kentucky Police Department
This article appeared in the October 2001 American Police Beat

Chiefs Roberts Note:
We, in the law enforcement, are bestowed a tremendous trust.  We must be vigilant not to violate the trust we are given.  Our basic "tools" are given to us through the Constitution and from the people who have entrusted us to be the "Peace Keepers" of our communities.  We must stand firm in the fact that we must protect and serve (emphasis on service) with accountability, responsibility and integrity to our chosen profession and to the communities we are given the privilege and honor to serve.  Law enforcement is, without question the barbed wire between good and evil.  And, through recent events, we have learned that evil has many faces that will continue to alter our role as public protectors and public servants.  We acknowledge that we have been given certain powers from those we serve and from higher authority that will effect the face of our communities - to maintain our quality of life, to preserve the peace, to ensure the safety of all the people and so much more.
We, as law enforcement and society, must be ever vigilant to "do the right thing."  Each of us has a responsibility to our fellow man to be an upstanding role model and  problem solver.  It is our responsibility to raise the standards, and in the words of Zig Ziggler - "If it's going to be, it's up to me."
We must be accountable to our neighbors, fellow workers, family and friends to make our communities a better place to raise our families and build a bright future.
In the end, all we can ask of our law makers, judiciary, politicians, business leaders, clergy, neighbors, friends and family - but especially of ourselves, is to
"Just Do The Right Thing"

The achievements of an organization are
the result of the combined effort
of each individual.
Vince Lombardi