Examples Of Police Corruption

Police corruption is a type of misconduct in which an officer breaks his ethical code of conduct. Beigel (1974) says that police corruption can be broken down into two categories: external and internal. External corruption involves acts of corruption that affect the public, while internal corruption deals with acts within a police department.

Beigel (1974) goes on to give several examples of external corruption. One is a payoff from people who are generally non-criminals. These are people who may need police protection in high crime areas or who constantly violate traffic laws. The second example is a payoff from criminals. This includes drug dealers, prostitutes, and professional burglars. These individuals bribe police officers so as to avoid police intervention during the commission of their crimes. Low-level criminals may pay individual officers to turn a blind eye to their crimes. High-level organized criminals often make regular payments to police district commanders, who in turn instruct their subordinates avoid arresting certain criminals.

Beigel (1974) also provides examples of internal corruption. One example is the obedience of the blue code of silence. This involves officers not discussing their colleagues’ crimes or misconduct. Other examples include payments to higher-level officials for better assignments

Bad apple officers are described as individuals predisposed to bad behavior. The position of power as a police officer nurtures their bad behavior. Melig (2012) goes on to say that the bad apple perspective was born out of the belief that humans are naturally inclined to misbehave. This belief also says the reason that most humans do not misbehave is that certain factors draw them away from bad behavior. Law enforcement agencies use different techniques in order to weed out any potential bad apples such as background checks, interviews, and polygraph