The Police Can Lie to You: A Philosophy Prof and Former FBI Agent Discusses (Dr. Luke William Hunt, University of Alabama)

Join Luke William Hunt (link) -- a philosophy professor and former FBI Special Agent -- for a conversation about the ethics of police deception and dishonesty.  In his new book, Police Deception and Dishonesty: The Logic of Lying, Hunt argues that many of our assumptions about policing and security are unjustified. Through a rich discussion of literature and case studies, he shows that there are compelling reasons to think that the police's widespread use of proactive deception and dishonesty is inconsistent with fundamental norms of political morality--especially norms regarding fraud and the rule of law. Although there are times and places for dishonesty and deception in policing, Hunt evocatively illustrates why those times and places should be much more limited than current practices suggest.

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), The Police Identity Crisis: Hero, Warrior, Guardian, Algorithm (Routledge, 2021), and Police Deception and Dishonesty: The Logic of Lying (Oxford, 2024).

Thank you to the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for sponsoring this event along with Pfau Library.

Series organizers: Dr. Mary Texeira (CSUSB Sociology), Robie Madrigal (Pfau Library), Stan Futch (President, Westside Action Group), Dr. Jeremy Murray (CSUSB History), Matt Patino (Crafton Hills College Adjunct Faculty), Michael German (Brennan Center for Justice). Click here to view previous panels in the Conversations on Race and Policing series (link).