diff --git a/nova/api/openstack/placement/handler.py b/nova/api/openstack/placement/handler.py
index aeac268e88f..4862826e921 100644
--- a/nova/api/openstack/placement/handler.py
+++ b/nova/api/openstack/placement/handler.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 from nova.api.openstack.placement import util
 from nova import exception
 from nova.i18n import _, _LE
+from nova.api.openstack.placement import policy
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -155,12 +156,8 @@ def __call__(self, environ, start_response):
             context = environ['placement.context']
             # TODO(cdent): Using is_admin everywhere (except /) is
             # insufficiently flexible for future use case but is
-            # convenient for initial exploration. We will need to
-            # determine how to manage authorization/policy and
-            # implement that, probably per handler. Also this is
-            # just the wrong way to do things, but policy not
-            # integrated yet.
-            if 'admin' not in context.to_policy_values()['roles']:
+            # convenient for initial exploration.
+            if not policy.placement_authorize(context, 'placement'):
                 raise webob.exc.HTTPForbidden(
                     _('admin required'),
                     json_formatter=util.json_error_formatter)
diff --git a/nova/api/openstack/placement/policy.py b/nova/api/openstack/placement/policy.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c1a3eacc065
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nova/api/openstack/placement/policy.py
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+#    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+#    not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+#    a copy of the License at
+#
+#         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+#    WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+#    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+#    under the License.
+"""Policy Enforcement for placement API."""
+
+from oslo_config import cfg
+from oslo_log import log as logging
+from oslo_policy import policy
+from oslo_serialization import jsonutils
+
+
+CONF = cfg.CONF
+LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+_ENFORCER_PLACEMENT = None
+
+
+def placement_init():
+    """Init an Enforcer class for placement policy.
+
+    This method uses a different list of policies than other parts of Nova.
+    This is done to facilitate a split out of the placement service later.
+    """
+    global _ENFORCER_PLACEMENT
+    if not _ENFORCER_PLACEMENT:
+        # TODO(cdent): Using is_admin everywhere (except /) is
+        # insufficiently flexible for future use case but is
+        # convenient for initial exploration. We will need to
+        # determine how to manage authorization/policy and
+        # implement that, probably per handler.
+        rules = policy.Rules.load_json(
+            jsonutils.dumps({'placement': 'role:admin'}))
+        # Enforcer is initialized so that the above rule is loaded in and no
+        # policy file is read.
+        # TODO(alaski): Register a default rule rather than loading it in like
+        # this. That requires that a policy file is specified to be read. When
+        # this is split out such that a placement policy file makes sense then
+        # change to rule registration.
+        _ENFORCER_PLACEMENT = policy.Enforcer(CONF, rules=rules,
+                                              use_conf=False)
+
+
+def placement_authorize(context, action, target=None):
+    """Verifies that the action is valid on the target in this context.
+
+       :param context: RequestContext object
+       :param action: string representing the action to be checked
+       :param target: dictionary representing the object of the action
+           for object creation this should be a dictionary representing the
+           location of the object e.g. ``{'project_id': context.project_id}``
+
+       :return: returns a non-False value (not necessarily "True") if
+           authorized, and the exact value False if not authorized.
+    """
+    placement_init()
+    if target is None:
+        target = {'project_id': context.tenant,
+                  'user_id': context.user}
+    credentials = context.to_policy_values()
+    # TODO(alaski): Change this to use authorize() when rules are registered.
+    # noqa the following line because a hacking check disallows using enforce.
+    result = _ENFORCER_PLACEMENT.enforce(action, target, credentials,
+                                         do_raise=False, exc=None,
+                                         action=action)
+    if result is False:
+        LOG.debug('Policy check for %(action)s failed with credentials '
+                  '%(credentials)s',
+                  {'action': action, 'credentials': credentials})
+    return result