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   Book Info

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Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing  
Author: Edwin J. Delattre
ISBN: 0844741531
Format: Handover
Publish Date: June, 2005
 
     
     
   Book Review


Book Description
On September 11, 2001, the unflinching heroism of hundreds of police and law enforcement personnel involved in rescue operations at the World Trade Center exemplified the ideal of a good cop. These heroes stand in stark contrast to some of their colleagues who engage in misconduct and even crime. What makes a good cop versus a bad cop? In the fourth edition of Character and Cops, Edwin J. Delattre addresses this question, which has particular relevance at a time when law enforcement personnel are being asked to take part in "homeland defense" against terrorism. He uses examples such as the heroism of September 11, 2001, as well as some of the major police scandals, controversies, and crises of our time—the trial of O. J. Simpson, the events at Ruby Ridge, the tragedy at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, the beating of Rodney King, Amadou Diallo’s death, and the sodomization of Abner Louima by Justin Volpe—to explore the ethical standards that should govern police commands and individual officers. He describes the impact of the decline, even collapse, of social pressure in modern society and within some police departments on the side of morals, manners, and reputable conduct on police who face ever more complex demands, problems, and difficulties in carrying out their mission. A new chapter considers how the future of policing is affected by the altered context of a nation at war with terrorism. How do we prevent our expectations—and any new demands we may impose—from undermining the capacity of police departments to protect the public from threats to public safety and from crimes that have nothing to do with terrorism? Delattre discusses recruiting and training standards for police and law enforcement personnel and whether these should be changed because of new domestic threats. He covers questions about the use of profiling and application of existing laws about intelligence gathering in counter terrorism. He also calls on federal agencies to provide police with more information and intelligence so that they can determine how best to apply their assets to protection and instruction of the public. Although the author focuses specifically on the importance of character in law enforcement, the book has broader application to questions of individual character, public trust, corruption, moral training, and ethics education within society at large.


About the Author
Edwin J. Delattre of Boston University is a resident scholar in the university’s Center for School Improvement, professor of philosophy in its College of Arts and Sciences, and professor of education and former dean of its School of Education. He is an adjunct scholar of AEI and president emeritus of St. John’s College (Annapolis and Santa Fe). He has been teaching courses on ethics in policing for more than twenty-five years. As he designed the courses, he spent forty hours a week on the streets with police at night. He has taught FBI agents, police chiefs, and other police and law enforcement personnel and his work has taken him to the streets of almost every major city in the United States, the Caribbean, and England. By 1985, Mr. Delattre was receiving many requests from police that he write a book on ethics in policing. Character and Cops is his response to those requests.




Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing

FROM THE PUBLISHER

From dark streets and hallways where criminals prey on their victims to the corridors of power where political agendas set policy, law enforcement officers face unrelenting demands on their courage and morality. In a dangerous world, are "Dirty Harry" tactics or "noble cause corruption" ever justified? What does it take to enforce the law and keep the peace honorably? In the expanded edition of Character and Cops, Edwin J. Delattre has added material on the Rodney King beating, gang-based violence, and the tragedy at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. He also includes an appendix, with a guide for designing academy courses and programs in ethics and for using the book as an instructional tool. Character and Cops explores the ethical standards that govern police commands and individual officers in pursuit of their duties. More broadly, though, the book addresses questions of individual character, public trust, corruption, moral training, and ethics education as they apply to society at large.

SYNOPSIS

Delattre (philosophy and education, Boston U.), implicitly promoting the "bad apple" theory of police corruption and brutality, discusses how to promote good values in individual police officers through training and discusses how those values should lead officers to act in a variety of situations. This new edition adds a chapter on terrorism and policing, complaining that police lack the tools to effectively prosecute the "War on Terrorism" and examining issues of racial profiling. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Booknews

Delattre (philosophy and education, Boston U.), implicitly promoting the "bad apple" theory of police corruption and brutality, discusses how to promote good values in individual police officers through training and discusses how those values should lead officers to act in a variety of situations. This new edition adds a chapter on terrorism and policing, complaining that police lack the tools to effectively prosecute the "War on Terrorism" and examining issues of racial profiling. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

     



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