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Criminal Justice Review
DOI: 10.1177/0734016806295596
2006; 31; 382 Criminal Justice Review
Thomas D. Bazley
Book Review: Police Ethics: The Corruption of the Noble Cause (2nd ed.)
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This list is useful and could have provided a common theme throughout the book. Also in
chapter 1 is a list of Ten Guidelines for Effective Communication. Again, this is a useful
list, and when combined with the first list would serve as an excellent outline for the
remainder of the book. Unfortunately, the authors make no attempt to fully develop the con-
cepts and ideas introduced in chapter 1. Instead, they provide kind of a smorgasbord of top-
ics related to communication but without a common theme to help organize the material.
Nowhere is the lack of organization more evident than in the structuring of the chapters.
Although not presented this way, it appeared that there were two general categories of mate-
rial presented. First, chapter 2, Communicating Authority; chapter 3, Dealing With
Manipulation; chapter 4, The Rescue Triangle; and chapter 8, Problem Solving, all
seem to focus on the application of effective communication skills. Chapter 5, Listening
and Interviewing Skills; chapter 6, Sensitivity; chapter 7, Crime Victims; chapter 9,
Sexual Harassment Issues; and chapter 10, Monitoring Your Attitude, deal with devel-
oping the skills for effective communication. The authors intertwine the chapters ignoring
the difference in focus. The result is a book that appears to meander through the material
without a clear objective.
Throughout the book, there seemed to be few substantive discussions. Generally, the dis-
cussions related to specific topic areas are substantively weak and feel more like filler than
an attempt to provide supporting details. A more comprehensive discussion on the topics
with supporting materials related to effective communication would have added signifi-
cantly to the usefulness of the book.
Finally, the authors make reference to only one published manuscript but never provide
a citation for the work. In fact, they provide no citations for referenced material and,
although not stated, the assumption would have to be that the materials are taken from their
personal and professional experiences in law enforcement and corrections.
Unfortunately, there appear to be more weaknesses to the book than strengths. I did not
feel that the book accomplished its objective as a guide to help both recruits and experi-
enced officers develop and sharpen the verbal skills so important to modern police work.
The writing is choppy and uncomfortable to read and often appears to be a collection of
weakly related thoughts put down on paper with a last-minute, haphazard effort to some-
how tie these thoughts together, which, I felt, was never accomplished. Coupled with a
dearth of substantive content, I found the book lacking and not very convincing.
Donald Faggiani
University of MassachusettsLowell
Caldero, M. A., & Crank, J. P. (2004). Police Ethics: The Corruption of the Noble Cause
(2nd ed.). Dayton, OH: Anderson.
DOI: 10.1177/0734016806295596
Many years before Caldero and Crank wrote Police Ethics: The Corruption of the Noble
Cause, a young federal agent, while being interviewed for a position with counter foreign
intelligence responsibilities, was asked to respond to the following what would you do
type of question:
382 Criminal Justice Review
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During an on-going surveillance of an espionage suspect, you receive word the suspect has
purchased an airline ticket for travel out of the country within a few hours. There is concern
that he will meet with an enemy contact and handover classified material. You follow him from
his workplace and observe him carrying a briefcase. He travels to his residence, enters with
the briefcase, but departs again minutes later without it. You maintain surveillance at the resi-
dence while other members of your team follow the suspect to a bank, pharmacy, and dry
cleaner. While gone, you weigh your options. You want to know who the suspect is meeting
overseas, but you dont want any classified material handed over. Moreover there is not
enough time to obtain a search warrant for the residence and perhaps, not enough probable
cause anyway. What would you do?
The young agent, with the national anthem playing in his mind and the American flag
seemingly waving before his eyes, replied, I would just have to go into the residence and
look through that briefcase, a statement that he quickly regretted as he was sternly admon-
ished about the Fourth Amendment.
And so it was that this reviewer acquired a very personal understanding of the message
that is so unmistakably, if not persistently, argued throughout this book. Caldero and Crank
present a different kind of ethics book. Their book aims at noble cause corruption. It is
corruption of police power when police act illegally because they believe the outcome will
be good, thus fulfilling what they view as a moral commitment to make the world a safer
place (i.e., the noble cause). Examples provided by the authors include fabricating infor-
mation, providing false testimony in court, racial profiling, and excessive use of force.
Although these acts are somewhat different from the scenario described above that was pre-
sented to this reviewer, they all support the authors contention that police officers tend not
to think of due process and respect for citizens. Rather, they are more apt to blindly pursue
their moral commitment to get bad guys off the streets.
Moral commitment? Is that what develops in police officers through their training and
socialization experience? Absolutely not, argue Caldero and Crank. In fact, it is an integral
part of their thesis that police officers are hired with just this type of value system well
ingrained, that is, get the bad guys off the street, come to the aid of victims, and, if nec-
essary, risk your life in accomplishing these duties. Moreover, they claim that police hiring
procedures are designed to weed out those who do not possess such values. Once hired,
police training and socialization only serve to reinforce this common set of values that indi-
viduals bring into the policing profession. It follows, then, according to the authors, that it
should not be surprising to find police officers conducting themselves in a manner at odds
with legal and agency mandates because they believe they are following a higher moral
calling. Thus, racial profiling to rid the world of drug traffickers, lying in court to ensure
convictions, applying street justice to those they view as deserving, and similar other
abuses should not be unexpected outcomes. However, Caldero and Crank label such behav-
ior as a form of corruption, a variety they refer to as noble cause corruption; and they
strongly warn readers that this type of corruption has a delegitimation effect (i.e., it breaks
the bond that links the police with those they are sworn to protect).
Nevertheless, this volume is not an unsympathetic account of the policing profession.
Caldero, a police officer turned college professor, and Crank, whose academic career has
focused on police organization and behavior, do offer constructive recommendations to
remedy noble cause corruption. They make a strong plea for police managers and trainers
Book Reviews 383
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to be effective role models in this regard. For instance, legal mandates and department poli-
cies that reflect them cannot be taught and/or implemented with a wink and a smile.
Perhaps more radical (but not inconsistent in this era of community policing) is their call
for hiring a different kind of police officeran individual whose values lie in the middle
of the crime control/due process continuum. They see these types of individuals as less
likely to engage in noble cause corruption because they will be guided by values that con-
sider both a just means to an end, as opposed to simply a just end result.
This updated (largely to reflect post-9/11 considerations) and somewhat restructured
second edition is written for both police practitioners (police managers and recruits are
specifically identified) as well as criminal justice students. These audiences are well
accommodated by its organized approach and readable style. The book is divided into three
parts: Part I introduces the concept of police officers as committed to the noble cause and
as value-based decision makers; Part II discusses how officers commitment to the noble
cause can become corrupted; and Part III considers noble cause corruption as an ethics
issue in the 21st century. Interspersed throughout the text are segments of dialog (in italics)
from an ethics training seminar that was conducted by author Caldero for a group of police
managers. The authors use this approach not only to introduce many of their central tenets
but also to report the types of feedback and reaction that their ideas elicited. Skeptics in the
audience and among those who read this volume will likely find Calderos verbal sparring
thought provoking at the very least, if not most persuasive.
Thomas D. Bazley
University of Maryland University College, Adelphi
Bannon, M. E. (2003). A Quick Reference Guide to Contemporary Criminal Procedure for
Law Enforcement Officers: One Hundred Notable United States Supreme Court Decisions,
and Their Effect on Modern Policing in America. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
DOI: 10.1177/0734016806295590
The discipline of criminal justice is unique in the academic community. There are no acad-
emic disciplines that suffer from such a bifurcated nature as does criminal justice. Whereas
most academic disciplines rely on basic research as the cornerstone of resulting scholarly
pursuits, criminal justice has the added benefit, some would say problem, of application, or
the more practical aspects inherent in policing, corrections, and the courts. It is within the prac-
tical aspect of law enforcement that Lt. Mark E. Bannon takes the reader in A Quick Reference
Guide to Contemporary Criminal Justice Procedure for Law Enforcement Officers.
Too often in criminal justice research the practical side of our discipline is overlooked in
favor of more esoteric scholarly endeavors. Although basic research is part and parcel of any
scholars obligation to the larger academic community, there often remains a gap in publi-
cations suited for the more traditional scholar versus those publications more appropriate for
the practitioner within the field of criminal justice.
Lt. Bannons book is one remedy to that publication gap existing between the academic
and practical sides of criminal justice. Thanks to the opening pages of this text, a reader
384 Criminal Justice Review
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