Corruption In Law Enforcement

The Impact of Corruption

Since the first law was written, the law enforcement community has been confronted with many allegations that officers have violated the public's trust by engaging in criminal acts of corruption. Many aspects of policing have changed over time; however, one aspect that has remained quite unchanged is the existence of corruption. Police corruption is a complicated issue and a growing problem in the United States today. Corruption in law enforcement is usually viewed as the misuse of authority by a police officer acting to realize personal needs or desires. Unfortunately, it has become far too common, that on any given day, a local newspaper will often display an article about a police officer that got caught committing

The external corruption generally consists of one or more of the following activities; 1) Payoffs to police by essentially non-criminal elements who fail to comply with stringent statutes or city ordinances; (for example, individuals who repeatedly violate traffic laws), 2) Payoffs to police by individuals who continually violate the law as a method of making money (for example, prostitutes, narcotics addicts and pushers, and professional burglars). 3) "Clean Graft" where money is paid to police for services, or where courtesy discounts are given as a matter of course to the police. In this case, two officers from Calexico Police Department have been fired due to "acting like a mob activity". Although there were no specifics, the result has been taking the person job

Police agencies, in an attempt to eliminate corruption, have tried everything from increasing salaries, requiring more training, education, and developing policies that are intended to focus directly on factors leading to corruption. Despite police departments' attempts to control corruption, it still occurs. Regardless, police corruption cannot simply be over looked. Controlling corruption is the only way that we can limit corruption because corruption is the consequence of the individual, societal views and our culture's worship of the dollar. Therefore, control must come from not only the police department but also must require the assistance and support of the community leaders. A way that police agencies can control its corruption problem starts in the hiring process and throughout in the officers' career. Ethical decisions and behavior should be promoted, because failing to do so makes officers aware of the consequences of corruption and does nothing but encourages