Research Catalog

Title

Police ethics and the Jewish tradition / by Stephen M. Passamaneck.

Author

Passamaneck, Stephen M.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Passamaneck, Stephen M.

Description

xii, 176 p.; 26 cm.

Summary

"In Police Ethics and the Jewish Tradition, author Stephen Passamaneck explores three areas of interest: loyalty, bribery and gratuities, and deception. Loyalty will always be a part of police culture, and administrators are faced with the task of minimizing its abuses. Jewish tradition encourages the support of the whistleblower who exposes wrongdoing for the sake of the public good. This can sometimes lead to a clash between tradition and the "blue wall of silence." In the area of bribery and gratuities, Jewish law prohibits bribery, but modest gratuities may be accepted. Tradition allows a given class of persons to enjoy preferential treatment. In police culture, limits must be imposed on any gratuities. Any expression of respect and appreciation must have no relation to the manner in which a police officer performs his or her duties. In the area of deception, Jewish tradition is very clear that misleading the innocent is morally wrong. Police ethics accepts deception in an interrogation to obtain information, to protect a life, or to recover stolen property. Deceptive tactics, however, have no place in a court of law. Jewish legal tradition does not differ from modern Western law in this respect. This book takes a first look at the idea that Jewish tradition may offer benefit to the evolving world of police ethics."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• Jewish ethics
• Police ethics
• Law enforcement > Moral and ethical aspects

ISBN

• 0398074216 (hard)
• 0398074224 (pbk.)

LCCN

2003047394

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries