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Essay about moral corruption in police department
Essay about moral corruption in police department
Effects of police corruption
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In law enforcement they are put in positions where the public is willing to provide them with gifts for their service within the community. Lawrence Sherman and his theory of the "Slippery Slope" were used to identify the flaws within the police department that can lead to corruption. For Sherman, the environment of temptation in which the recruit worked was the problem. The ‘slippery slope’ from small gifts and gratuities to major graft could only be prevented by police managers being intolerant of minor gratuities (p. 11). According to Sherman theory-allowing officers to accept any form of gratuities can open them up to corruption. For example, police officers working a neighborhood are being offered coffee at no charge and half price on their meal …show more content…
Corruption runs rampant within the department especially went the supervisors don 't control or prevent the spread of corruption. Utilizing the term blue wall of protection is why other officer and department’s leaders are keeping the actions of corruption a secret. For example, when a officer notice another officer accepting or taking bribes for favors, he or she will not report their fellow officer to protect them from being reprimand or fired for their unethical act.
Rotten Apple Hypothesis:
Focuses the root of corruption on the character, or lack thereof, of the individual officer. This explanation proposes that corruption is the result of poor selection practices that fail to screen out applicants who are unsuitable for public service (Withrow & Dailey, p. 4).
The rotten apple hypothesis beliefs that people are born bad no matter what. These people who are rotten apples usually are exposed to bad behaviors as a child. Officers that are considered rotten apples are usually apart of murders, robberies and extortion. Their act creates a divide within the
Probable Causes of Corruption – Different things motivate different people. Some can motivate people to perform beyond expectations and some can lead astray from moral and ethical values.
The definition of “corruption” is when an officer uses their position to acquire unprofessional benefits, mainly through bribes (Goldstein, 1977). The abuse of power transpires in three separate fields, psychological, physical, and legal misconduct (Carter, 1985). Psychological misconduct happens through disdain, coercion, scorn, and terror, while physical misconduct uses unrestrained force and physical intimidation. Lastly, legal misconduct occurs through illegal search and seizure methods or fabricating proof.
It is not uncommon for citizens, particular store or business owners to show their gratitude to officers by offering free cups of coffee, free meals, or discounts in exchange for their attentiveness and presence at the store. While the giving of a free cup of coffee may be an innocent gesture and certainly is not the sole contributor to ethical violations, or police corruption, the expectation, by the storeowner, of something in return is what establishes a “slippery slope” (Cheeseman, 2011). What makes a gift a gratuity is the reason it is given; what makes it corruption is the reason it is taken. The acceptance of even the smallest “perks,” such as free coffee, is problematic because it changes the mindset of officers. The slippery slope is corruption that begins with harmless, well intentioned practices and leads, over time, to all manner of crimes-for-profit (Delattre, 2004). If the reason the gratuity is given and taken leads to favoritism, impartiality, and prejudice, then this begins the downward spiral of unethical behavior.
Police corruption is a difficult issue cities have to deal with and one of the oldest problems in the police force. Corruption can be defined as the mistreatment of public power for personal benefit or private and the use of excessive force either emotional or physical. In this essay I will explain in detail federal indictments of Los Angeles Country Sheriff officers use of mistreatment of jail inmates and visitors. Another topic I will explain is the transfer of Los Angeles Country Sheriff hired officers with questionable background. Finally I will end by analyzing the hiring of new Sheriff deputies under the “Friends of the Sheriff” program. There are several ways police departments could take to reduce police corruption. The three areas I think should change are the training officers further in how to diminish abuse, improving personal character of officers, and incentives program.
Ethical decisions are involved with policing as officers often find themselves faced with ethical decisions when offered gratuities. Because of the risk officers take on a daily basis, it may seem ethical for them to accept gratuities offered. For example, officers may be offered free cups of coffee by store owners because the store owner is appreciates the officers service or he may want a ticket he receiv...
A simple greedy thought can hurt many people. “The illusion of simplicity crumbles when one considers the many contexts in which this “effects” scenario can arise.(Erbsen, 2015 pg.389 )” They can not only hurt themselves and the state but it can also hurt the reputation of the police as well. “Honest officers are silenced by their fear of ``ratting ' ' on another cop no matter how grave the crime. Supervisors often fear the impact of a corruption scandal on their careers more than corruption itself. No institution wants its reputation tainted. But police departments have uniquely powerful incentives to avoid uncovering corruption (Armao et al, 1994).” The people need the police more than they think and if they think that they are run by corrupt officials then they will lose all faith in their police force and the police force will end up hurting their city thus end up hurting their state. “Corruption and misconduct undermine police efforts in tackling crime and protecting communities; they limit the effectiveness of police actions and have a detrimental effect on public confidence in the police (Wright, 2010 pg.339) If the police can be honest with the people and with themselves then the corruption could be dealt with even if it means the police’s reputation is tarnished. “Every police force faces the challenge of
As human are we willing to take the risk necessary to survive? Lisa Belkin author of “The Made-to Order-Savior” and Lisa Slater author of “Who holds the Clicker?” both tells us a story about the choices we make as humans to survive and the ethical questions raise by it. In Belkin’s essay is about a little girl named Molly Nash who is born with a rare disease called Fanconi disease. Her only way to survive is through her parents having another child with an exact match as her the procedure is called “In-vitro fertilization”. Now in Slater story is about this middle age man Mario Grotta who suffers from OCD. Obsesive compulsive disorder is what stands in the way of Mario having a normal life. Mario who has been through mostly every procedure possible finds himself with one last hope by inserting Neural implants. A risky operation that involves drilling a hole in his skull. Both essays connects with the risk both humans take to survive. The question is “When should we step on the slippery slope?” the answer should be when there’s no other possibilities left. No matter the ethical questions raised, we should advance since with time we progress with medicine. Also as human instinct we should risk the possibilities even when death is a possible outcome
Decision some officers make compromise their loyalty, to the community they swore to protect. It is a stressful situation when deciding to be loyal to the job or to fellow officers. “Many departments have officers swear an oath to serve and protect without allowing personal feelings, prejudices, animosities, or friendships influence their actions”, however, the code exists (Lawrence, 2015). Not the code of ethics or the code of honor, but the “cop code”, which bonds unethical officers to a code of silence to protect each other.
The rotten apple theory suggests that there are only a few problem police officers in a force. They can be either individuals who slipped into their deviant ways because of the environment they worked in and how easy it was to take advantage of their job, or deviant individuals who continue their deviant ways in an environment that
To understand the blue wall of silence we must understand the definition. The blue wall of silence is defined as: An unwritten code among police officers not to report on another officer’s errors, misconducts, and or crimes when questioned about an incident of misconduct involving another colleague, during a course of an inquiry. Even though the blue wall of silence originated from the understandable need for law enforcement to be able to trust and rely on each other, it is neither morally justifiable nor is it a legal act. The wall of silence hinders the relationship with the community by degrading the trust and compromising the integrity. It is generally understood that the code of silence breeds, supports and nourishes other forms of unethical
It is often said that power brings corruption, but in reality it is an individual’s lack of character, self-discipline, and integrity that leads to corruption. Law enforcement can bring many temptations on the job, and maintaining an up most level of personal integrity can often times be very difficult. The very nature of the job surrounds officers with all of the bad things that society, produces. There can be an endless amount of training and rules put into place to try and deter officers from committing unethical acts, but in the end it really just comes down to the specific individual and their willingness to do the right thing.
The first of the four categories, Loyalty, is the ethical dilemma officers face when seeing other fellow officers commit offences during their course of action. These types of action can be as minuscule as officers abusing sick leave, all the way to physical abuse and corruption. At the lower level, abusing sick leave typically occurs when officers want a certain amount of time off, these types of sick leave usually happen on workdays and especially on the days they get denied vacation. On sick leave police officers still get paid, when in reality the offending police officer is not actually ill. Other police officers in the workforce may know of this abusive method, however, they do not want to report these offences to the upper officers as they would then lose their friendship and loyalty to the police officer. The offending group would then exclude them socially and it could escalate to physical violence. On the lower level these type of offences do not seem like they affect society, however, the offending officers here are taking money from the government budget for task enforcement with no noticeable increase in the effectiveness of the police taskforce. On a higher level, physical abuse and corruption are also neglected by other police officers. When an offending police officer commits
Police corruption is a nationwide problem that has been going on for many years. Not only is corruption a problem on our own U.S. soil, but police practices of corruption go as far east as Europe and Asia. Many studies, polls and examinations were taken to find out how exactly what the general publics’ opinions of the police are. Officers receive a lot of scrutiny over this issue, but for good reason.
There are many thoughts on police officers accepting gratuities such as free drinks and food, discounts, and use of facilities. The view by Elliston and Feldberg (1985) that the purpose of most gratuities is to show friendship and admiration of police officers is no problem for my agency, the Knoxville Police Department, and many others. This is ok when officers still give equal time at places that don’t officer such discounts. However, if such establishments start asking officers to spend more time in their businesses for the discounts the officers must stop as something nice has turned into something unethical.
Montesh, M. (n.d.). Conceptualizing Corruption: Forms, Causes, Types and Consequences. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from