Cambridgeshire Constabulary
Ethics Playing Cards
Copyright © 2025 Compass Ethics
3
You attend an RTC and realise that the badly injured driver, who smells strongly of alcohol, is a colleague’s partner. What information, if any, do you later share with that colleague?
Case Studies
- What about if it was your colleague’s child? Would that change your approach, or your expectations if it was a colleague who found them?
- If it was your own relative, what would be different in terms of professional obligations/duties?
Discussion
Maintaining professional boundaries in such a situation is going to be extremely difficult, but also very important. You must consider:
- What type of information can be shared vs. what cannot?
- What are the professional repercussions if you share sensitive information?
- Consider the implications for trust in the profession.
HM Government articulates the Seven Golden Rules of information sharing: Necessary, proportionate, relevant, adequate, accurate, timely, and secure: Ensure that information you share is necessary for the purpose for which you are sharing it, is shared only with those individuals who need to have it, is accurate and up-to-date, is shared in a timely fashion, and is shared securely. This applies just as much in this situation as in any other.
Understanding this, and the requirements that you and your fellow colleagues are under cannot make the personal situation easier, but should help those doing the right thing not to be judged too harshly for not sharing information that they are not permitted to, even when it feels like they should.
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Information Sharing Policies emphasises that you must only share information for a legitimate policing purpose. This would not include merely personal reasons, which would be a breach of the standards of professional behaviour.