ABSTRACT
Understanding the purposes of policing is vital in any debate about its ethics. It is particularly important at a time of organisational transition and crisis, which, like earlier such milestones (Scarman, 1982), has provoked a questioning of the police role. ‘Purposes’ in this context has a meaning which encompasses not only the role of the police, but also, increasingly, the intended outcome of policing (Cm 4181, 1999). By taking these two elements together the purposes of policing can be seen to provide the ‘moral foundations’ for policing (Kleinig, 1996a).
