POLICE CORRUPTION

Police Corruption

Police Corruption

Introduction

Police corruption comes at an extraordinary cost. First and foremost, a corrupt act committed by any law official is a crime. Police corruption also diminishes the integrity of the police and tarnishes the public image of law enforcement. Furthermore, corruption protects other criminal activity such as drug dealing and prostitution. Protected criminal activities are a huge threat to the community because they are able to operate with the help of law enforcement. This paper will explore the efforts put forth by the Government to control police corruption with the hopes of ridding it from society.

Police corruption is the simple product of Marxian theory. In this case, the means of production are simply the power that people of the law possess and their ability to bend it to suit their own selfish desires. The cause is our cash driven society that inspires greed even in the hearts of those who are supposed to protect us. Civilians and law enforcement officers alike will continue to be effected by this problem. Since its beginnings, many aspects of policing have changed; one aspect that has remained relatively unchanged is the existence of corruption. If you look in a local newspaper, it is likely that you will find an article about a police officer that has been arrested for committing some kind of corrupt act. Officers have been stealing money from dealers and distributing drugs themselves. They are protected, hiding behind badges that they proudly display. The way to solve this problem comes from either Weber's ideal system of nobility or Durkheimian theory where corruption would be intolerable and quickly unveiled from the inside. Citizens of the community are responsible for bringing about these changes in our society. Only with a system that rewards dedication, bravery, and ethical behavior will law enforcement be turned away from a life of corruption.

Discussion

Like it or not, power tends to lead to corruption. It is no surprise citizens are often shocked and outraged when police officers are exposed in violating the law. The truth is that police are human and just as susceptible to greed and unethical behavior just as anyone else. The term corruption simply refers to the use of authority by a police officer to fulfill personal needs or wants. There are three simple criteria for a “corrupt act” which must all happen simultaneously: 1) misuse of authority, 2) misuse of official capacity, and 3) misuse of personal attainment. (Dantzker, 1995)

Essentially, police corruption falls into two major categories-- external corruption, which concerns police interaction with the public, and internal corruption, which involves the relationships among co-workers within the department. 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, ...