ABSTRACT
It is surprising that the ethical considerations relating to the procurement of goods and services by police organisations have remained largely unexplored by commentators on policing ethics. Procurement is a significant area of growth in police organisations. With rising demands over the last few decades to ‘do more with less’, police have turned increasingly to external providers for the goods and services needed to run police organisations. Fresh challenges such as terrorism and international peace keeping, as well as the ever-evolving sophistication of criminals, now call for goods and services undreamt of 30 years ago, including information technologies, specialised apparel and weaponry, novel forms of scientific apparatus and intelligence-gathering tools. Services that were traditionally provided in-house are increasingly being outsourced, such as recruit training, audiotape transcriptions, forensic investigations and prisoner custody services.
