Turning mirrors into windows: Developing ethics subjects to foster responsible and professional police

People training to become police officers in NSW undertake an ethics subject in both their second and fifth sessions of study. The second session immediately precedes their attestation as Probationary Constables and, therefore, their initial 12 months of work as police-officers-in-training. The fifth session is the final session prior to confirmation as a Constable, and its conclusion marks an abrupt change for students from 'junior' to 'senior person on the truck'. The recent redevelopment of the Session 5 ethics subject called for consideration of this forthcoming leadership role, while also allowing students to consolidate their second session learning with the benefit of their experiences as probationary constables.The intent of this paper is to explore a number of key issues that arose when the authors were revising the Session 5 ethics subject referred to above, with specific reference to the use of meta-cognitive processes, including reflection on and critiquing of their experiences of both ethical and leadership issues during their time as probationary constables in the New South Wales Police. The paper discusses the process undertaken to develop the subject and the considerations that were accounted for in its design, including the broader issue of what it is to teach ethics, particularly to this cohort of students. The paper will attempt to draw more general conclusions about the teaching of ethics to professionals by way of dedicated ethics subjects.