Since the development of the social equity themes in public administration, many criminal justice agencies have included the themes of social equity in their mission and/or values statements and in their oath of office (Cronkhite, 2013). As Cronkhite (2013) stated the social equity theme is unique to public sector. A short survey of five police department’s mission statements from across the country was conducted using the departments’ websites to see how the social equity themes were included in the mission and values statements of the selected police departments. The departments whose mission statements were studied were New York Police Department (NYPD), Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Metro Nashville Police Department MNPD, and …show more content…
Constitution stating the department recognizes Constitutional rights of citizens. Also, the NYPD (2015) statement also discusses impartially enforcing the laws and respecting the dignity of individuals. All of these sections of the mission statement of the NYPD exhibit the influence of the social equity themes discussed by Cronkhite (2015). The mission statement of the LAPD (2015a) also shows minimal influences of the social equity themes. The closest reference to a social equity theme in the LAPD (2015a) mission statement is a reference to working with the diverse communities within the city. The LAPD (2015b) also has a separate values statement that does address the themes of social equity. The core values of the LAPD mentions treating all with fairness and respect and that all officers should treat every with respect and dignity. One theme that was mentioned by LAPD (2005a, 2015b) was empowering employees to do the duties of their job. Even though the mission statement or the core values did not specifically mention protecting the rights of individuals, there is a spirit throughout both statements that shows the department commitment to the community and its individual members. The DPD (2013) mission statement shows