ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the concept of the public good in more depth and considers how to apply this term to policing. It describes two problems: first, that "the public good" is a goal that can never be reached (the "utopia problem"); second, that it is difficult to quantify (the "measurement problem"). After proposing solutions to the utopia problem, the chapter introduces a fivefold framework to help explain how it is one can use "the public good" with as unique an institution as policing. The chapter helps to set out what the authors mean specifically when they talk about "policing and the public good". The public good has an established, core, sense which ties it to well understood questions and problems in practical ethics. Models of "the public good" do not recognize the need for the shock absorber role because there is no acknowledgement that different parties may not be listened to because they are associated with force.
