Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 1
Article Critique
Robert Rosensteel
Helms School of Government, Liberty University
Abstract
This article critique is being conducted to review two peer-review articles in reference to
training and ethics in law enforcement. Ethics is one of the most important topics in law
enforcement as a whole and especially in today’s world. Ethics are not only large in law
enforcement but also have ties throughout the Bible. This critique will discuss the different ways
in which to conduct training as well as how to implement it to policy within different agencies. It
will also point out the strengths and weaknesses of each article that was utilized for the
critique.
Keywords: Ethics, training
Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 2
Article Critique
Ethics are a huge deal within the law enforcement community. Ethics are a set of
standards and guidelines that law enforcement officers must follow on a daily basis. It does not
matter whether you are a front-line officer or if you are the Chief of Police, ethics are something
that will never go away and can also make or break your career. According to Cohen, “ethical
behavior defines the body and soul of the public service profession” (Cohen, 2021). Whenever a
law enforcement officer is graduating their basic training academy, they are typically required to
recite the Code of Ethics. These ethics that each law enforcement officer are entrusted to learn,
describe what the responsibilities are of that officer. This is also something that is public
information to everyone and in a time where law enforcement is incredibly scrutinized, it is
important for officers to remember this set of guidelines while they are out conducting their
jobs.
Article 1-Background
The first article that I utilized for the purposes of this critique was, In Pursuit of Police
Ethics, written by Galia Cohen. This article speaks about the importance of incorporating ethics
into law enforcement training. Unfortunately, law enforcement is a career field where officers
are constantly under a microscope. Individuals are always looking for things that officers are
doing wrong. One important thing for people to remember is that officers operate quite often
off of their own discretion. It is a well-known fact, that not everyone thinks the same, thus
meaning that not everyone is going to agree with an officer's decisions based on their own
discretion. Law enforcement is also the only career field that you can work in where you have
the ability to take away someone’s rights. As Cohen stated, “police officers are one of the only
Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 3
groups of public officials that has the legal power to regularly deprive citizens of their freedom”
(Cohen, 2021).
The only way to ensure that there is some sort of continuity is to incorporate ethics training into
officer’s training regiments. For example, at a local sheriff’s department here in South Carolina,
they must go through a bi-annual ethics training every year. This is for officers that have been
on the job for quite a while as well as the officers that are brand new to the career field. This
training typically covers the policies that are put in place by the department as well as
standardized training on ethics as a whole. This training is to ensure that all of the officers
within that department are on the same page when it comes to ethics. This is further backed by
Cohen when it was stated that “in law enforcement, ethics training has a critical role in bridging
the gap between written policies and actual behavior by introducing or reinforcing rules and
expectations of behavior” (Cohen, 2021). I believe that this is one of the biggest attributes of a
well-run department where ethics are put in the forefront. This is step one of becoming an
“ethical organization.” There has to be training put in place for all officers and civilians that
work within the department.
Article 1 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
I found that an overwhelming majority of this article was what I would consider a
strength. I felt that this article was very well written and took a lot of things into consideration
while being written. One of the biggest strengths of this article to me was when Cohen spoke
about how ethics within law enforcement and ethics within the regularly work force are
completely different. I couldn’t agree more with this statement. Although ethics are typically the
Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 4
same no matter where you work the way that it is implemented and the way it effects officers is
completely different. Much like we have seen, especially in recent years, if even one officer
makes a bad decision whether intentional or not, not only does that officer have to live with
that decision but so does every other officer in the country. This is evident when Cohen states,
“when public officials engage in unethical behavior, they violate the public trust and damage the
reputation of public servants everywhere” (Cohen, 2021).
The second strength that I found with this article was that Cohen went on to re-iterate
how important training was when referencing ethics. Cohen spoke about how officers should be
trained on ethics consistently to ensure that everyone has the same idea of what they should be
doing. Cohen dives into the difference between educating and training and how it makes a
difference with ensuring that the information being taught is being truly learned. Cohen states,
“Through training, a behavioral change can be achieved in a relatively structured and
predictable way, however, the values and social responsibilities that derive from the learned
behavior can only be achieved through educating, in a process that is much less structured and
predictable” (Cohen, 2021). It is also referenced that officers are not given enough information
and training on ethics in their respective basic training academies. This means that each
agency’s training unit must take on the job of properly training and educating officers about
ethics.
Weaknesses
The first weakness that I found within this article was that throughout the article, Cohen
speaks about the difficulties with law enforcement officers and ethics but she doesn’t speak
much about how not all officers intend to violate the code of ethics or act unethically. The
Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 5
majority of the article it sees as though officers are lumped together as one which is a problem.
This issue could be very degrading to officers and is one of the biggest complaints officers have
today. They feel like society has a certain view of them solely because of the decisions made by
a few officers.
There was one area within the article where Cohen covers this. Cohen states, “Clearly,
police officers who act unethically do not always intend to do so. Unlike most public servants
that are equipped with detailed rules to govern their actions in specific situations, police officers
are often forced to make quick decisions under a great deal of pressure” (Cohen, 2021). This is
incredibly important to note in an article like this. This is because as non-law enforcement
officers read this, it is crucial for them to know or have in their mind that just because one
officer makes a bad decision, not all officers do the same. Unfortunately, there are bad people
within every career field, just because there is one or a few that are bad, doesn’t make the rest
of the folks in the career field bad.
The second weakness that I observed within this article is that most of their statistics
appear to come solely from the basic training academies that law enforcement officers go
through before becoming a certified officer. Although this information is most likely factual, this
is not the only training that officers receive. An overwhelming majority of departments around
the country have follow-up training that they must go through annually or even bi-annually. So
although, by face value it appears that officers are not getting enough training, they typically
receive further training once they begin working at their respective departments,
Cohen explains how they receive their statistics by stating, “ll state-mandated ethics and
ethics-related courses identified in each state’s curriculum, their respective training hours (when
Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 6
applicable) and the length of the entire basic training program in hours” (Cohen, 2021). This
again shows that the majority of their statistics only show what is taught within the academies. I
believe that this shows that the statistics are incomplete or inconclusive due to not having the
information pertaining to the follow-on training and information that is given to officers by their
respective departments.
Article 2-Background
For the second article review, I chose the article Teaching Police Ethics by Anna Crehan.
This article follows up on the first article that I chose. The reason that I chose this article is
because I truly feel like incorporating ethics into department’s annual training is incredibly
important. A wonderful quote I drew from Crehan was when she stated, “the inclusion of ethics
in police training and education has been a topic of steady debate amongst academics and
police themselves since at least the 1970s. However, it has often taken second place to
discussions about ethical policing or the ethics of policing as instances of police corruption and
misconduct and poor relations with specific communities have come to light” (Crehan, 2019).
Although the incidents that Crehan has referenced were bad, it goes back to previous
statements that not all law enforcement officers make the same decisions or mistakes. Again,
just because one officer is bad doesn’t mean that all officers are bad. It has been noted and
documented that ethics training is incredibly important within the law enforcement community
and this is what should give people hope because it is such a known fact.
Crehan goes on to speak how important the training is and how each phase of the
training can be broken down. One reason that Crehan states that law enforcement officers may
Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 7
not enjoy the training or take it quite as serious is because they don’t find it as entertaining as
other training that they go through. What individuals that are not law enforcement officers
don’t realize is that officers go through a ton of rigorous training that really attracts the mind.
Although ethics training is incredibly important it can be tough for officers to follow due to the
dry nature of it.
Crehan states that officers were frustrated “with having to engage in non-practical, ‘not exciting’
subjects within their overall course – i.e. not, for instance, ‘murder investigation, firearms,
pursuit driving and unarmed self-defense” (Crehan, 2019). This is unfortunate but it is
something that officers deal with. Most humans are going to pay more attention to and put
forth more effort when it comes to something they enjoy or find interesting.
Article 2 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
The biggest strength that I saw in this article was when Crehan begins to speak about
how the topic is taught may make a huge difference in how it is received by officers. She
references that officers may feel like they are sitting in the training about ethics due to a
remediation type issue and that they are not looking at it as a continuation of what they already
have. This could be a problem because if they feel like they haven’t done anything wrong, then
they are not going to want to hear what the instructor is saying to them. Crehan goes on to
state that, “far from being ‘remedial’ in any way, my teaching of police ethics is always premised
on the belief that ‘The most interesting ethical problems occur when good people are trying
hard to do the right thing” (Crehan, 2019). This statement shows that if you just change the way
you the information is passed on then it can go a long way in gaining someone’s attention.
Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 8
The second strength that I observed within this article was when Crehan begins speaking about
who should be teaching officers about ethics. The reason that this is important is because if
someone that is not within the law enforcement community comes in to teach this information,
the officers may take it more as the person judging them and scolding them. This could cause
the officers to shut down their minds and not pay any attention to the information being taught.
In the article it talks about having multiple different folks from different areas come in to teach
the information which I believe would be incredibly beneficial because the officers can then get
the information from all different walks of life. Crehan also speaks about how the non-officers
and officers that taught would get together and discuss their information they were teaching to
ensure it fit what they needed it to. Crehan stated, “teaching teams met before each week’s
teaching, and engaged in something of a ‘mini self-teaching’ situation, with the philosophers
summarising the ethical content to be taught and the police providing context. In this way, to
paraphrase, the police members turned the academics in to ‘the “daily rigours” of what police
“do” and . . . what is actually important to them” (Crehan, 2019). Teaching the information this
way ensures that the officers are staying engaged and actually taking something from the
information that they are being provided. This is incredibly important when speaking about any
type of training but especially when speaking about ethics.
Weaknesses
The first weakness that I found in this article was when Crehan speaks about introducing
ethical theories within the training. What I believe is that if you start to incorporate information
that is not entertaining or doesn’t keep the attention of the officers, then they will not retain
any of the information. Officers don’t typically have any interest in things like theories or other
Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 9
things that require getting the opinions of others. This is mostly because officers like to think on
their own and like to formulate their own ideas. However, Crehan disagrees with me and states
that, “without any ethical concepts at all, students simply cannot learn what it is to identify
ethical issues, to make ethical decisions, or to explain and justify such decisions. We will
consider each in turn” (Crehan, 2019). I believe that this information that is being taught should
be simplified and made to be entertaining and not so much dry.
The second weakness that I saw within the article was that Crehan began speaking
about how to aim the training. Essentially, she states that the training shouldn’t have goals set
in place.
She states, “conversely, it should not aim at goals such as making students into ‘good people’
(goals that not only cannot be assessed, but, perhaps more importantly, contradict the first
recommendation, which assumes police students are basically good people” (Crehan, 2019).
The problem with this is that officers are typically black and white type people. They are given a
goal or objective and they get that mission done. If you make this training more goal oriented
they may tend to do better with it and take more away from it.
Summary of Articles
I believe that the two articles that I reviewed were incredibly effective. Both authors
were very detailed in their writing and were very good at getting their points across. I came
away from reading both articles with more information and more knowledge on law
enforcement training pertaining to law enforcement training on ethics. I believe that this is one
of the most important trainings that law enforcement officers go through and they must take it
seriously. These two authors ensured that they laid out different ways to make that happen.
Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 10
Whether it be getting officers and philosophers together to teach together so that there is a
common ground, or ensuring that there are goals set and a “mission” made for the officers to
accomplish. This was a phenomenal project that I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot from.
Conclusion: Personal Reflection, Position, and Christian Worldview The one
thing that I thought about the entire time I was reading this articles was how ethics are
mentioned in the Bible a fairly large amount. The biggest thing that caught my attention from a
Christian Worldview and with ethics is that of the Golden Rule. Found in Matthew and Luke, the
Golden Rule is best defined in Matthew 7:12, “so whatever you wish that others would do to
you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the
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Prophets” (NLT 1996/2015, Matthew 7:12). This is not only crucial in life but in law enforcement
as a whole.
Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 12
References
Cohen, G. (2021). In Pursuit of Police Ethics: An Analysis of Ethics Content in State-Mandated
Basic Police Training Curricula. Public Integrity, 24(3), 292–305.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2021.1933340
Article Critique on Ethics in Policing 13
Corbo Crehan, A. (2019). Teaching police ethics: analysis of an increasingly complex teaching
context. Police Practice and Research, 20(3), 300–312.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2019.1598075.
