Ethical Fading and the Future of Policing

What if the greatest threat to police integrity isn't corruption — it's the slow, invisible process by which people stop seeing their own misconduct as wrong? Ethical fading moves silently through hiring decisions, training halls, daily operations, and the highest levels of command — reshaping what feels normal until misconduct becomes routine. This article by FPI Fellow Captain Craig Solgat confronts that threat head-on and lays out what policing must do before the cost becomes irreversible. Ethical fading doesn't announce itself — it quietly rewires how officers, supervisors, and institutions define what's acceptable. This article, by FPI Fellow Captain Craig Solgat, traces how that erosion moves through every level of policing and what it will take to stop it.