Deception, situated ethics and police ethnography

Calvey, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3473-4769 (2023) Deception, situated ethics and police ethnography. In: Routledge International Handbook of Police Ethnography. Routledge International Handbooks . Routledge, London, pp. 231-247. ISBN 9780367539399 (hardback); 9781003083795 (ebook)

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Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to critically explore the creative and positively disruptive role that deception can play in police ethnography. Despite covert and undercover research being a controversial and emotive outcast long associated with cavalier deception and ethical transgression, it is a radical tradition that is submerged and continually maligned. Using deception can be an imaginative insider way to explore secretive subcultures, clandestine organizations, and illicit activities, which can typically have closed or very limited access by standard methods. Rather than being unethical, much covert research uses types of situated ethics to ground their approach. Recognizing and appreciating deception in action can potentially diversify and enhance the police ethnography canon.