Police Deception and Dishonesty

Luke Hunt’s Police Deception and Dishonesty offers a penetrating exploration of a problem that has received less attention than that of outright police violence, but is arguably even more pervasive and pernicious. Employing his well-trained philosophical chops, and drawing on his experience as a former FBI special agent (surely, an exceptionally rare combination), Hunt offers a compelling argument for the vital role that truthful and honest policing needs to play in a liberal society. * Stuart Green, Distinguished Professor of Law, Rutgers University *Luke Hunt is one of today’s leading philosophers on policing. In Police Deception and Dishonesty, he weaves together philosophy and real-world experience to show how many deceptive practices widespread in policing, whatever their short-term benefits, can have devastating consequences for police legitimacy. This book is essential reading for philosophers and practitioners alike. * Ben Jones, Assistant Director and Professor, Rock Ethics Institute, Public Policy, Penn State University *The book is especially powerful because it provides context for the widespread deception and ultimate violations of the rule of law. Hunt details the ways in which scholars have ignored the impact of deception and instead have focused on the politics of deception. The conclusion is a must read for every scholar of the field in considering next steps regarding honesty in law enforcement. Hunt’s work is powerful for a variety of ways but most notably because it lays a foundation and provides examples of how that foundation has impacted structures and institutions in law enforcement. Researchers can quickly see that there simply is not another book quite like this, making Hunt’s work groundbreaking. * A. R. S. Lorenz, Choice *

Luke William Hunt is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alabama, where he teaches in the department’s Jurisprudence Track. After graduating from law school, he was a law clerk for a federal judge in Virginia. He then worked as an FBI Special Agent in Virginia and Washington, D.C., followed by his doctoral work in philosophy at the University of Virginia. He is the author of The Retrieval of Liberalism in Policing (Oxford, 2019) and The Police Identity Crisis: Hero, Warrior, Guardian, Algorithm (Routledge, 2021).