Abstract
This inquiry describes an attempt to teach ethics to police leaders and managers within the unique institutional context of 'Bramshill' - the site of the Police Staff College within the National Police Training organisation. It shows how the subject 'ethics' was re-introduced to the curriculum of the middle-manager programmes of study and sets this re-introduction in the context of the wider strategic priorities and culture change aspirations of the police service in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The study identifies a sequence of'action research' stages each reflecting a search to secure a positive evaluation for the emerging educational designs. This part of the account will illustrate how difficult it was to secure, consistently, a positive evaluation of and response to the learning designs from the client group. Finally, though, after a number of set-backs and disappointments it became possible to claim some degree of success for the educational project. The thesis presented here is a post-modern text in three senses; first, its construction is an example of a 'transitext' built up over time; second, it is postmodern in its content including materials from eclectic and diverse sources; third, it is 'local', contextually specific and highly personal. In this latter respect it recognises that a different author would create a different style of account and a different theoretical structure in the course of making sense of the inquiry and the facts of the inquiry. The first part of the thesis establishes the background to the project and foundations for the study. The second part charts the unfolding stages of the inquiry from the re-introduction of 'ethics' until its removal from the middle-management programme. The third part of the thesis develops a number of theoretical interpretations and concludes with the presentation of information concerning the 'moral world' of police leaders and managers. The concluding chapter re-affirms the significance of 'ethics' in police strategic discourse, summarises the main findings of the study and concludes optimistically by noting how 'ethics' has, at last, come to be positively valued by a consistent majority of the client group at the dawn of the new millennium.