Police Ethics

This book provides an examination of noble cause, how it emerges as a fundamental principle of police ethics, and how it can provide the basis for corruption. The noble cause -- a commitment to "doing something about bad people"--Is a central "ends-based" police ethic that can be corrupted when officers violate the law on behalf of personally held moral values. This book is about the power that police use to do their work, and how it can corrupt police at the individual and organizational levels. The book provides students of policing with a realistic understanding of the kinds of problems they will confront in the practice of police work. Developing their work from a broad scholarly and professional base, the authors challenge contemporary views of the police on topics such as hiring procedures, public order policing, police discretion, and fundamental ethical problems that underlie police work.