Moving beyond the Noble Cause Paradigm: Providing a Unified Theory of Ethics for 21st Century American Policing

Abstract With the recent emphasis on fighting terrorism added to the traditional police mandate, the police in America face an unprecedented demand on their responsiveness, competence and clarity of purpose. Although the past thirty years have seen great strides in the improvement of police professionalism in terms of technology, community-orientation and the reduction of police corruption, a serious re-examination of purpose is long overdue. Street officers and police executives alike are expected to reconcile the many, and often times diametrically opposed, demands placed upon them by their constituents. The state of the literature abounds with research of police culture, value-based hiring, police ethics and community policing yet it still proves insufficient to adequately provide the fundamental basis by which police can reasonably meet these demands. The noble cause of crime fighting emerges as the self-defined role of the police against a backdrop of a hodgepodge of rules and expectations that too often conflict with one another. What is lacking is an inarguable set of principles against which police can weigh alternatives in matters both small and large; principles that unify police ethics. This set of principles is found in the Constitution of the United States and its Bill of Rights and is given clarification and relevance in the Federalist Papers. These are not moral rules or a litany of dos and don'ts contrived by well-intentioned police administrators but rather the unifying force by which ethical reasoning can flourish. They form the basis of our government and the powers that are entrusted to our public servants and, in particular, the police. By accepting and applying these constitutional principles, police in America can gain a unity of ethical purpose and truly enhance their effectiveness and competence while avoiding the pitfalls of cynicism, scandal and the alienation of the public they serve. Introduction As the transition into the new millennium proceeds, policing in America is faced with challenges unprecedented in their scope and complexity. Perhaps the most immediate challenge in the post 9-11 era is the need to work collaboratively with other local, state and federal police agencies, as well as non-police agencies, to protect citizens against terrorist attacks. As part of this charge, police must plan and prepare for the response to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive attacks. The need to share and utilize counter-terrorism information and resources is no longer the exclusive purview of federal agencies alone. Police agencies, whether accepting or not, are inextricably linked partners with fire, public health, and other public agencies responsible for the development of a comprehensive and cooperative strategy to deal with terrorism. (1) These partnerships include the health, medical and emergency management communities, among others, and present a new set of responsibilities and expectations of the police. Daunting as these new responsibilities may be, the traditional and more widely recognized roles of law enforcement, service provision and order maintenance continue to challenge police in their efforts to meet the many and diverse demands placed upon them. Equipped with the most recent technology and strategies for community-oriented policing, today's police are in the midst of a transition to a state of policing in which many of the past practices and priorities will become antiquated and rendered ineffective. This state of policing is given historical perspective and is described by Kelling and Moore (1988) as The Community Problem-Solving Era. (2) Cultural and ethnic diversity from demographic shifts, increasingly complex interrelationships with other federal, state and local agencies, and the growing public intolerance to incompetence, scandal and parochialism by police require serious reexamination of the core principals by which police conduct their business. …