Police corruption

Police corruption

Police corruption is a form of misconduct whereby officers who are supposed to observe law enforcement engage themselves in unethical dealings involving fulfillment of personal gains at the expense of the common good principle (Johnston, 2005, p 9). Among the benefits accrued to corruption in police offices include monetary gains in addition to career advancement. This gross misconduct is a crime because it involves abuse of power especially when a police officer accepts bribes so as to conduct selective investigations or assume the pursuit of a crime. The most common form of corruption that was noted among police officers is bribery. Global indices on corruption have associated the police force with widespread corruption relating to undercover operations such as drug trafficking, child labor, prostitution and other organized crimes. Among the countries noted to be practicing police corruption include Ukraine, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, India, Mexico and Indonesia.

In the book ‘One man war against police corruption’, the author supports that nature of the police job has many loop holes which facilitate corruption. This is one reason why the police corruption menace has been rampant. Occupational and geographically mobility associated with the duties conducted by police officers have enabled them to fulfill their personal interests. According to another research conducted by the Knapp Commission, it was identified that even though there are officers who ask for the bribes, others are lured into the practice more so when they are offered with a good payoff. This leads into classifying police corruption into two groups depending on their readiness and willingness to take bribes.

Among the common misconduct acts associated with police officers have been kickbacks, shakedowns, corruption of authority, opportunistic theft, hazing, opportunistic theft, protection of illegal activity, internal payoffs and police fixing. Another crime that was observed among police officers is failure to abide by the code of conduct which requires them to lead by example. The police code has been flouted in most cases by officers who fail to report criminals and at times they falsify records in order to protect law breakers from being convicted.

In spite of the steadfast services that police officers have been providing and their concern with the security of each and every citizen, there is a long history of corruption in the police force. In the United States, police corruption dates back to the establishment of police departments such as the New York Police Department (Sanja, 2003, p 11). Among the misconducts mentioned in case files is the rampart scandal which involved officers who were hired by Death Row Records as security officers while at the same time serving as police offices. The scandal which happened in the early 1990’s was widespread since it revolved around 70 police officers who had been assigned with the duty of eradicating a bandit unit (Judith, 2002, p 34). The Los Angeles Police Department unit which was marked as the Community Resources against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) was implicated in corrupt dealings involving framing of suspects, falsified evidence, perjury, cover up of evidence and bank robbery.

Because of its historical roots, police corruption is hard to tame because it involves even the highest of the officials who often have to protect business elites, drug loads and kingpins for hefty payoffs. The chain trickles down to the low rank police officers who also get involved in the vices propagated by their seniors. The internal stakeholders in police corruption include senior police officers and the law breakers while external shareholders include civilians and the government. The key players in the corruption menace are senior police officers who offer directives and oversee the running of pertinent departments in the police force.  As major stakeholders, senior police officers have been on the forefront in curbing corruption but on the other hand they promote corruption. This is so when police officers offer discriminative services to people they deem powerful in exchange for favors or money.

According to Colonel Frank (2012), data collected on police corruption is highly biased. This is because corruption in the police units is hardly reported thus it is nearly impossible to estimate an accurate police corruption index. Likewise some forms of corruption are so deeply rooted that they have become a norm among law enforcers. Police organizations alike lack the incentives to publicize information relating to police misconduct. There is a lot of secrecy regarding corrupt practices because police officers cover up for each other’s mistakes. This has made corruption among police officers to be termed as the worst social problem across the globe and this has also fueled social bias.

Ethical forces that promote corruption among police officers have been observed to be related to those involved in pushing police officers into abusing their powers. Among these forces is the noble cause corruption which has been defined as a form of misconduct committed by a police officer who attempts to fabricate evidence, manipulate facts on reports and provide false evidences in the courts. The four components of public corruption identified in the field of criminal justice include police brutality, off duty behavior, biased performance and white collar crimes (Markovitz, 2011, p 52). The four components are widely associated with how public officers use their power to undermine the personal liberties of people.

The practices of police brutality or excessive use of forces are unacceptable according to the police ethics. In addition, public officers are supposed to uphold ethics whether at work or while attending to off duties. Biased performance has been noted in many crimes related to criminal justice where public officers make biased selection of employees basing on race, nepotism and personal prejudice rather than proven track record( Justin, H. 2012).. The fourth component with is white collar crimes relate to criminal justice where employees conspire to misuse or mismanage public funds for personal benefits (Johann, 2007, p 45). Such practices are against the code of good conduct which dictates ethics at work places. Such corrupt practices have been controlled through public audits to identify swindling of funds, proper vetting of public officers to ascertain their integrity and performance track records before taking up public responsibilities.

Police assignments are defined by the responsibilities accorded to police officers by the state organ in charge of internal security. The main duties assigned to police officers include maintaining of law and order among citizens and safeguarding them from aggression. These assignments bestowed upon the police demands that the officers practice ethics in their daily conduct with the people to reduce social bias. This brings up the need for training which will enable police officers to be certain when faced by ethical dilemmas. The best training would be the evidence based training where sample case scenarios describing possible dilemmas are studied by the police officers. The trainers then help them make critical analysis of the dilemmas and from the experience; police officers will be better placed to make ethical decisions.

Police corruption can also be corrected by setting up of undercover internal affairs department which should be given the mandate to conduct private investigations on suspected activities (Michael, 2009, p 45). The specialized department should be managed by a senior officer with a clean track record and integrity so as to collect and monitor complaints made by the public with regard to police officers. Just like the rampart investigations that were done to unveil undercover cooperation between the police and law breakers, the internal affairs department will help reform the police force and make them devoid of misconduct.

 

References

Colonel, F. (2012). Police, politics, corruption: The mixture dangerous to freedom and justice. Michigan State University Library.

Johann, G. (2007). The institutional economics of corruption and reform: Theory, evidence and policy. Cambridge University Press.

Johnston, M. (2005). Syndromes of corruption: Wealth. Power and Democracy.  Sidney: Cengage Learning.

Judith, G. (2002). The Shield: Picturing justice. The online journal of law and popular culture.

Justin, H. (2012). One man war against police corruption. Criminal Justice Resource.

Markovitz, J. (2011). Racial spectacles: Explorations in media, race and justice. New York: Routledge Press.

Michael, P. (2009). Policing terrorism in the United States: The Los Angeles Police Department’s Convergence Strategy. Los Angeles Police Department: Counter Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau.

Sanja, K. I. (2003). To serve and collect: Measuring police corruption. The Journal of Law and criminology 93

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