The textbook discusses two different types of police corruption, which are economic corruption, and abuse of authority. Corruption is acting on opportunities, created by virtue of one’s authority, for personal gain at he expense of the public one is authorized to serve. Economic corruption includes gratuities, when they conflict with law and policy. (Pollock, 2017, pg. 186) Abuse of authority involves officer’s misuse of the power and authority inherent in their positions. There are three different forms of police abuse of authority: physical abuse-excessive force, physical harassment, retaliatory brutality; psychological abuse-disrespect, harassment, ridicule, excessive stops, intimidation, deception in interrogation; and legal abuse- unlawful …show more content…
Corruption can take on different meanings depending on whether the acts occur in the public or private sector. Corruption can be thought of as embezzlement, fraud, bribery, treason, or acts that constitute a conflict of interest. An ethical act is one that is generally thought of as an act that society has not deemed “wrong.” (Morgan, 2013) To resolve this dilemma people much come together as one and communicate on a different level, the problem is that there really isn't a boundary as to what is accepted by majority rather than a select few. These two different forms of corruption are nothing but a continuous cycle that has been passed down from one generation after another, in my opinion if we start to place better like values and morals into the younger generation we will see corruption slowly fade away. The ethical system that would follow in these types of corruptions would be rule Utilitarianism, in corruptions one persons actions can become a domino effect on the entire police department, most officers follow suit with their fellow officers right or wrong. Either form of corruption would not result in the greatest good for any department
WA (Western Australia) Police Force began their chapter in history of Australian Policing in 1829 when few constables were appointed to patrol Perth and Fremantle. The first woman police officer was appointed in 1917 for some specialised services until they were fully incorporated in 1970s (WA Police, 2011).
For years police corruption has been a major problem in American society but where is the line between moral and unethical police corruption, many modern movies address this vary issue. Some films portray how types of police corruption can have a positive influence on society, while others show the dark side of police corruption. Many law enforcement agents join the criminal justice with the basic idea of “justice for all,” however, most of them do not realize that the nice guy doesn’t always win. Even though there are vast amounts of movies which specifically address police corruption we will use three main movies for our argument today, mostly LA Confidential, however, also Training Day.
“Police throughout the United States have been caught fabricating, planting, and manipulating evidence to obtain convictions where cases would otherwise be very weak. Some authorities regard police perjury as so rampant that it can be considered a "subcultural norm rather than an individual aberration" of police officers. Large-scale investigations of police units in almost every major American city have documented massive evidence of tampering, abuse of the arresting power, and discriminatory enforcement of laws. There also appears to be widespread police perjury in the preparation of reports because police know these reports will be used in plea bargaining. Officers often justify false and embellished reports on the grounds that it metes out a rough justice to defendants who are guilty of wrongdoing but may be exonerated on technicalities.”
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.
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.
Police corruption, misconduct, and brutality in the United States have been issues since the creation of watch system in the United States (Grant& Terry, 2012). New policy and training is now in place and the corruption, misconduct, and brutality has gone down since the beginning of policing. This is a huge issue that impacts all police organizations in the United States. The extent of police corruption, misconduct, and brutality is hard to track in the United States. A lot of these crimes go unreported, tossed aside, or the officer responsible gets little or no punishment. This is huge issue in the United States criminal justice system.
Within our police system in America, there are gaps and loopholes that give leeway to police officials who either abuse the authority given to them or do not represent the ethical standards that they are expected to live up to by society. Because of the nature of police work, there is a potential for deterioration of these ethical and moral standards through deviance, misconduct, corruption, and favoritism. Although these standards are set in place, many police officers are not held accountable for their actions and can easily get by with the mistreatment of others because of their career title. While not every police abuses his or her power, the increasingly large percentage that do present a problem that must be recognized by the public as well as those in charge of police departments throughout our country. Police officials are abusing their power and authority through three types of misconduct known as malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance and these types are being overlooked by management personnel who rarely intervene even though they know what is happening. Misconduct is wrong because it violates rights and causes people to be wrongly accused of crimes or be found not guilty and set free when they are still an endangerment to other people. The public needs to be educated on what is happening in the police system in hopes that someone will speak out to protect citizens from being violated by police officers.
Corruption in policing is viewed as the misuse of authority by a police officer acting officially to fulfill his/her personal needs or wants. There are two distinct elements of corruption; 1) misuse of authority, 2) personal attainment. The occupational subculture of policing is a major factor in both creating police corruption, by initiating officers into corrupt activities, and sustaining it, by covering up corrupt activities by other officers. Police corruption is a complex phenomenon, which does not readily submit to simple analysis. It is a problem that has and will continue to affect us all, whether we are civilians or law enforcement officers. Since its beginnings, many aspects of policing have changed; however, one aspect that has remained relatively unchanged is the existence of corruption. Police corruption has increased dramatically with the illegal cocaine trade, and the officer acting alone or in-groups to steal money from dealer and/or distribute cocaine themselves. Large groups of corrupt police officers have been caught in New York, New Orleans, Washington, Dc, and Los Angeles. Corruption within police departments falls into two basic categories; internal corruption, involving relationships among the police within the works of the police department (ex: promotions or favored assignments, usually purchased with bribes) and external corruption, which involves police contact with the public. There are many different forms of corruption; gratuity, involving free meals, free dry cleaning and discounts; bribery, involving the exchange of money or something of value between the police and wrong doer (this is very common among narcotics officers); theft and Burglary, involving office...
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 or manufacturing evidence (Pollock, 2012). One source describes police corruption in eight different ways. They include: corruption of authority, kickbacks, opportunistic theft, shakedowns, protection of illegal acts, the fix, direct criminal acts, and internal payoffs (Roebuck & Barker, 1974).
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.
In this essay, I will examine the ethical issues surrounding police corruption and discretion in the criminal justice system. I will also define legality and equity and how they relate to police corruption and discretion. Police corruption and discretion are ethical issues that have been negatively impacting the criminal justice system for years. Police corruption weakens the public 's confidence in law enforcement officers. It also hinders the effectiveness of law enforcement officers whose job is to serve and protect. I will also define police corruption and discretion and the reasons behind police misconduct.
Corruption in law enforcement has been a nationwide problem for many years. Not only is corruption held in one level of law enforcement, but throughout the three levels including the state, local and federal. The formation of the first police departments were the model by the early english society. The early years of policing began to contribute various forms of misconduct from police officers. Soon thereafter, Sir Robert peel established early modern policing which influenced the colonial america policing to the english society. Yet, even after following the model of other countries of law enforcement, Colonial America corruption still continued. In the mid 1800's, corruption continued to widely affect society as a whole. It was until August Vollmer, who marked the contribution of professionalism to policing, that a notable difference began to diminish corruption. Misconduct occurs at all policing levels and continues to spread worldwide. The most common types of corruption are bribes, kickbacks, shakedowns, opportunistic theft, physical abuse, protection of illegal activities and physical abuse. These types of corruption are seen throughout all levels of law enforcement. Corruption is more prominent among higher ranking officers. Not only is misconduct found among those holding higher positions, but it is also seen in rookies who are just entering law enforcement. Corruption is induced not only from individual corrupt officers or chiefs, but occurs as a result of inadequate leadership structures and administrative policies. Eliminating reducing misconduct must be done by demonstrating integrity, better organization within the policies, stricter recruitment and training.
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.
I chose to research on the topic of why police officers engage in corruption, because it’s a problem that’s very sensitive to me. I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and whenever I thought of a police officer, I couldn’t help but think of corruption. I always felt police officers were only corrupt in Nigeria but once I started studying the criminal justice system in the United States, I realized it’s actually a global problem; some are just more exposed than others. According to Sayed and Bruce (1998), “Police corruption is any illegal conduct or misconduct involving the use of occupational power for personal, group or organizational gain.” They also referenced the South Africa’s law in trying to define corruption. The law states that whosoever offers
The majority of peace officers are committed to the profession they chose. They view the career as a calling, a dedication to perform a public service to their community. Being a police officer requires one to continually strive for perfection, but there is no such thing as a perfect cop. What makes a good cop turn bad? Many factors can attribute to police corruption, but the question that should be asked is if it can be stopped. Although police agencies have progressed greatly from its beginning, police corruption is the black mark that will forever leave a stain of embarrassment within an organization.