An account is offered that will specify the moral basis for ordering interpersonal and public relations between the police and the community consistent with democratic principles. The argument contends that police professional conduct should be grounded in a sense of the virtues, i.e., those traits of character and dispositions that will serve stated purposes in the police occupational role, and in a sense of justice as equality, or the quest for the impartial application of humane principles, rules and laws to all citizens. Also, conduct should be grounded in a sense of retribution as the operative rationale for the justification of punishment. Concentration on the virtues within police work has the special merit of compelling police administrators and the public alike to acknowledge the undesirable traits and dispositions (vices and excesses) in police conduct. A sense of "justice as equality" will sensitize police administrators, supervisors, and peers to police conduct and decisions that are lawless, capricious, or arbitrary. (Author abstract modified)