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Police Ethics

Introduction

Merriam-Webster online (2005) defines misconduct as “intentional wrongdoing; specifically, deliberate violation of a law or standard especially by a government official: Malfeasance; mismanagement: especially of governmental or military responsibilities or improper behavior”

Corruption, as defined by Merriam-Webster online (2005), is “impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle: Depravity; Decay, Decomposition; c: inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as bribery), a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct; or an agency or influence that corrupts.”

Police corruption encompasses police misconduct. While police misconduct is usually easily identified, police corruption is a gray area because people disagree on what is classified as corruption. This paper will discuss the different types of police misconduct and police corruption. It will also theorize about why police misconduct and corruption occur and the different ways to stop them.

Types of Misconduct and Corruption

There are two types of corruption that most police malfeasances fall under: grass-eating and meat-eating. Defined by the Knapp Commission in the early 1970s, grass-eating is misconduct that occasionally occurs in normal every day scope of police work (Schmalleger, 137). Meat-eating is when police officers actively seek out illicit ways to make money, usually through bribes, threats, or intimidation (Schmalleger, 139).

How Police Misconduct and Corruption Can be Stopped

Police misconduct and corruption are a relatively common occurrence, probably more than the majority of the public even realizes. Since the problem is relatively widespread, then how is the best way to cut down on and eventually eliminate police malfeasances? To begin to deal with the problems several different issues in policing will have to be addressed simultaneously (Byers, 108).

First, the most obvious, albeit, not so simple, solution to police crime is to raise all police officer pay to pay that is comparable to other professions who work approximately the same number ...