In 1989, AEI published Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing, written by Ed Delattre. Now in its sixth edition, the book has been a constant seller and ranks in sales among AEI’s top policy books, having sold more than 10,000 copies. Before his death in 2019, Delattre had served in a number of capacities at Boston University, including as the Olin Resident Scholar in Applied Ethics, adjunct professor of philosophy, and dean of the School of Education. 

The book discusses the ethics of law enforcement. In an introduction to the 1989 edition, Patrick Murphy, himself a 40-year-plus veteran of the New York City Police Department and later police commissioner, wrote that Delattre’s book “illuminates hundreds of moral problems faced regularly by police officers and managers” and that policing would be strengthened by “these well-reasoned analyses of the actual problems of the street and headquarters.” Columnist George Will later called the book “a sophisticated exercise in applied political philosophy, illuminat[ing] the complexity of policing and the central role of that profession in a free society.”

For his work in the classroom and on the book, Delattre walked the beat, spending 40 hours each week on the street with police. He argues that the police, as a selective institution, are not a microcosm of society and that flaws in the institution “cannot be excused on the grounds that it is a microcosm. Indeed, we establish principles for service in a selective institution, dedicated to the public trust, precisely because we know that mere membership in society is insufficient as a mark of fitness to service the public.”

We cannot reasonably expect a police department to screen out all unfit candidates, he says, or prevent all wrongdoing. But they must be “minimized” by careful recruiting, rigorous training, able supervision, and accountability. Delattre worked with law enforcement around the country and abroad throughout his career.

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