Research Paper On Police Corruption

As history has provided us facts showing that with great power also comes great responsibility. The great power part has not been as considerable of a problem as the great responsibility has because as police officers start off at the academy, they quickly recognize the authority they will shortly have. The past and known data has revealed to us that a lot of these officers do demonstrate great control and responsibility, but there is a fraction of officers who are corrupt in many sorts of ways that have conveyed inspection and absence of faith in law enforcement all over America. Thankfully, these actions have consequences and the law makes sure that these corrupt public servants get the punishment they deserve.

Although police officers take an oath to protect and serve citizens in our society. we have some officers that our corrupt and willing do anything just to protect themselves from being exposed from their unethical behavior. In 1994 three officers from New Orleans police department committed an unspeakable crime murder for hire and a violent drug gang. The killing of Kim grove was thirty-two years old and was gunned down by police officer that were there to protect her instead they killed her.

Police officers may or may not actively support noble-cause corruption. Sometimes when officers become aware of corrupt or illegal forms of misconduct, they are inclined to “turn a blind eye or look the other way.” It puts their fellow officers in a very difficult position, most officers tend to think that if they turn away and ignore it and do not acknowledge what is going on that they are not part of the misconduct or illegal activity. Most

Police corruption and misconduct come apparent in many different forms. A basic definition for police corruption is, when an officer gets involved in offenses where the officer uses his or her position, by act or omission, to obtain improper financial benefit. The main reason for such corruption is typically for personal gain, such as bribery. Police abuse of authority occurs in three different general areas such as physical abuse, psychological abuse, and legal abuse. Physical abuse is such abuse where one uses excessive force or physical harassment. The psychological abuse occurs through disrespect, harassment, ridicule, excessive stops, or intimidation. Finally, legal abuse is abuse that occurs during unlawful search and seizure

Police corruption contributes to the misuse of police powers because it involves the use of favoritism, bribery, shakedown, and perjury. Police corruption can be caused from discretion, low managerial visibility, low public visibility, and politics. Police officers are given a wide range of discretion on how to handle situations and that often leads to the abuse of power. Also, managers are not always watching over the officer’s shoulder to ensure that the right thing is being done, and the public does not often see the actions of the police. Which means they can get away with a lot of wrongful actions. Politics can create corruption in policing because politics can affect hiring standards, promotions, discipline, and adequate budget. There have been instances where a political leader would tell management who they want to be promoted. That is wrong because promotions should be dependent on your work ability, not because of political influence. There is also external corruption that will convince the officer to engage in payoffs and gratuities. For example: drug dealers would give police officers a percentage of their profit so that they can continue to sell and not go to jail. (Locke, 1996)

Police corruption can also be explained by the lack of protection and security police feel they have. They also feel like they are being disrespected by individuals in society, which is why they rely on the subculture for protection and support (Skolnick, 1966). The police subculture has created a lot of secrecy within the organization, which contributes to police misconduct. Police officers will often ignore another police officer’s corrupt actions in order to maintain a good reputation within the subculture (Tator & Henry, 2006). For example, 84% of police officers have directly witnessed another officer using more force than necessary out on the streets (US Department of Justice, 2017). However, instead of reporting the acts of others, 52%

According to the textbook, Neal Trautman’s corruption continuum helps clarify the unscrupulous activities of cops. The corruption continuum includes four levels on how organizations can become corrupt. The principal level is as per the following: usage of approaches that guarantee that officers know the moral decides that they need to take after. On the off chance that the manager neglects to do this, then officers will trust that they can be degenerate and no will make a move to fix it. The following level is the procedure that includes police chiefs not doing anything when they know of exploitative acts are being dedicated by officers or when they attempt to cover for those officers who take part in defilement. The third level includes officers

From my own personal perspective, I must agree that this phenomenon is real. Police discretion is one of the biggest aspects of the career discussed with those joining the force. The possibility of police corruption is far greater in the field work as opposed to areas where they do more office work or investigation. As discussed by Rich Martin, a New Jersey police officer and criminal justice professor at West Chester University, police corruption can start at low levels such as accepting coffee from convenience stores, subconsciously providing more police presence in return (Martin 2011). An article on police corruption and misconduct, mentions three areas in which police corruption fall: procedural, criminal, and unconstitutional (civil rights violations) (Blanks 2015). Procedural are actions that solely violate regulations

As someone that worked in corrections for 16-years, I have seen corruption events at both the state level and at the local county level in correctional settings. I there are two common forms of corruptions that I have seen correctional officers walked out and arrested for having sexual relations with offenders or bringing in contraband to offenders. These unethical actions by correctional staff are ones that break the trust with not only the offenders and staff but also the community that the staff has sworn by oath to serve and protect. We also see that an element of corruption and unethical actions have and do take place in the criminal justice area of police officers at the city, county, and state levels across the country (Andonova, 2017). When we as members of the American society see these corruptions in the law enforcement agencies, it is not only a break in the trust that we give them but also most times a violation of state and federal laws. As a community, we must expect that those that work in law enforcement are going to make mistakes, we know that no one is perfect. But when we see that criminal statutes have been broken by a member of the law enforcement community we must ask ourselves just where the line between mistake and corruption is drawn, and the ethical understanding between the two (Andonova, 2017). The connection between misconduct in corrections and in policing leave a lot of questions to be answered. Such as, are all law enforcement officers

With the mentality that they need to do anything necessary and the community thinking the same thing because they feel that this is an officer job, it could push them to behave unethical. Perez and Moore (2013) points out that police officers are face with situations where the people in the community is telling them every day to either get the gangs or guns out their neighborhood and keep the drugs out and away from the kids and do they don’t care about the cost that this demand could have on others. “Unlike any other form of misconduct, noble cause corruption is often accompanied by a significant amount of community support (Perez & Moore, 2013, p. 195). At the end of the day everybody rights is important whether they are or not a criminal

Why do officers become corrupt and more importantly, why do officers who are good keep silent when others are corrupt. The first is that police are not longer trusted by the public. This is increasingly so when looking at the riots that have been forming in Ferguson, Detroit, and New York following use of force in incidents across the nation. Officers are ostracized by the public and looked at as a malevolent force. With this distrust of the public officers band together in order to protect themselves, and keeping themselves separate. This is difficult to do when the public asks for transparency and communication from the police departments, but still shun officers. Civil rights also play a large role in why officers keep things from others. When working with people there are things that officers do that can be seen as a violation of civil rights that officers do when they think that they are acting in the right interest. This also proves a hurdle when looking at justice. Many criminal use the defense of violation of civil rights as a defense instead of pleading that they did not commit a crime. In order to get justice some officers keep these violations secret in order to make sure criminals pay for their crimes. This cognitive dissonance that breaking laws in order to get justice against people who break laws balances out is a major issue that is faced in the law enforcement

It has been augured that corrupt police officers brought their undesirable behavior into the policing department upon being hired. The most individual that are attracted to policing are morally inferior, they are average people. ( The NCJRS states), “ the solution

It must also be said that obviously all officers are not corrupt or out to kill. Certainly the actions of bad police make it even harder on those who genuinely wish to do an honest job and be upstanding in their privileged positions. In all honesty, the actions of officers who are either corrupt, badly trained, trigger happy or just scared and or inept are making things bad for decent officers and everyone else as well. Something has to give and more dialogue has to start happening or we will simply be doomed to more of the same. If things ever get so bad that this country finds its citizens facing off against any branch of law enforcement, hopefully those in uniform will realize in time that, they are us, just as we are them. Here’s to hoping

that they should not have to deal with is when a situation comes up with one of their

In present time, part of our society is dependent on the law enforcement, which are supposed to keep our community and environment safe and out of trouble. Police officers are part of a branch in law enforcement that helps contribute in the enforcement of certain restrictions and rules to the society in transforming and keeping it a healthy environment. Law officials have been in existence for the majority of the time, but have now been bribed into letting particular situations slide by. It has converted into controversial issue and common situation, where now it is possible to be seen anywhere. What ever happened to those police officers that followed the rules that they help enforce? Police corruption has been a persistent problem