Investigative Ethics: Ethics for Police Detectives and Criminal Investigators

323 Pages·2014·1.74 MB·English

by  Seumas Miller

Praise for Investigative Ethics: Ethics for Police Detectives
and Criminal Investigators
“Liberally illustrated with challenging cases, this volume marshals and
discusses the many ethical problems encountered by police investigators. In
an area that tends to be governed by pragmatic considerations, it provides
an important check on the desire and pressure for results.”
John Kleinig, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
“Rarely has the publication of a work exploring modern crime investigation
shown such a thorough grasp of the myriad challenges, many of them
ethical, facing tenacious investigators.”
Sir Dan Crompton, Former UK Police Chief and HM Inspector of Police
“Investigative Ethics is applied philosophy of the best sort. Its thoughtful
analysis of foundational issues in police ethics—at once sophisticated and
accessible—will provide a valuable resource for philosophers, legal academ-
ics, and police practitioners.”
Stuart Green, Rutgers Law School
“Investigative Ethics makes a valuable contribution to the growing body
of critical and informed literature on criminal investigative practice. While
aimed at police detectives and criminal investigators, it has much to offer
professional administrative investigators. Highly recommended.”
Nigel Savidge, Lead Integrity Specialist, Asian Development Bank

Investigative Ethics
Ethics for Police Detectives
and Criminal Investigators
Seumas Miller and Ian A. Gordon OBE QPM
This edition first published 2014
© 2014 Seumas Miller and Ian A. Gordon
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Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4051-5772-8
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Cover design by RBDA
Set in 10/12 pt SabonLTStd Roman by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited
1 2014
In memory of John Blackler APM (1933–2010) a former
police officer in the New South Wales Police

Contents
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction: Ethics and the Role of the Investigator 1
1 Law, Morality, and Policing 17
2 Knowledge, Evidence, and the Aims of Investigation 48
3 Intelligence and Intelligence Gathering 80
4 Investigative Independence 99
5 Crimes against the Person 118
6 Property Crime 149
7 Terrorism 171
8 Police Corruption 201
9 Informants and Internal Witnesses 223
10 Surveillance and Monitoring 243
11 Undercover Operations and Entrapment 263
12 Interviewing 279
References 297
Index 308
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Andrew Alexandra, Dan Crompton, Michael Davis, Clive
Harfield, and John Kleinig for comments on earlier versions of chapters in
this book.
Earlier versions of some of the material in this book appeared in the
following publications authored or co-authored by Seumas Miller:
The Moral Foundations of Social Institutions: A Philosophical Study,
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010; Terrorism and Counter-
terrorism: Ethics and Liberal Democracy, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing,
2009; Police Ethics (2nd edn), Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2006; Winchester:
Waterside Press, 2006 (co-authored with John Blackler and Andrew
Alexandra); Ethical Issues in Policing, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005 (co-
authored with John Blackler); Police Ethics: Case Studies (vols. 1–3), Wagga
Wagga: Charles Sturt University and NSW Police, 2000 (co-authored with
John Blacker); Police Ethics, Keon Press, 1995 (co-authored with John
Blackler); Issues in Police Ethics, Keon Press, 1996; Privacy and the internet,
Australian Computer Journal, 29, 1997; Authority, discretion and account-
ability: The case of policing, in C. Sampford, N. Preston and C. Bois (eds),
Public Sector Ethics: Finding and Implementing Values, London: Routledge,
1998; Corruption and anti-corruption in the profession of policing,
Professional Ethics, 6.3/4, 1998; Corruption, in Edward N. Zalta (ed.),
Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, Fall 2005 Edition; Torture, in
Edward N. Zalta (ed.), Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, Spring 2006
Edition; Integrity systems and professional reporting in police organisa-
tions, Criminal Justice Ethics, 29, 2010; The fatal police shooting of Jean
Charles de Menezes: Is anyone responsible? (co-authored with Ian Gordon),
in Simon Bronitt, Miriam Gani, and Saskia Hufnagel (eds), Shooting to Kill:
Socio-legal Perspectives on the Use of Lethal Force, Oxford: Hart Publishing,
2012; Police detectives, criminal investigations and collective responsibility,
Criminal Justice Ethics, 33, 2014.