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Research paper on Police Misconduct, Corruption, and Abuse of Power
Research paper on Police Misconduct, Corruption, and Abuse of Power
Research paper on Police Misconduct, Corruption, and Abuse of Power
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While reviewing the various instances of corruption by Law enforcement officers, it was shocking to see the increasing instances of repetitive and flagrant violations of abuse and corruption by law enforcement. Although it is conceivable that in some instances, such as the excessive use of force, the officer's perception of events at that instance could be skewed and could, therefore, result in an outcome less favorable than intended, however, there are some instances in which the actions of the officer(s) are intentional. A review of the former Memphis Police officer Arthur Sease illustrates the mindset of the intentional violation of the law for his benefit. Sease, a Memphis Police officer from 2001 until late 2005, when he was initially …show more content…
It was determined that in the course of the commission of this particular crime, Sease, was off duty, yet conducted the (planned) interception of the victims without the authorization of command staff knowledge, while in uniform, in his squad car, and outside of his prescient. The victims reported the incident to officials and filed charges against Sease for the robbery(United States of America v. Sease, 2011). Upon further investigation of Sease and his co-conspirator, consisting of 3 additional M.P.D. officers, a female acquaintance, and his cousin, indictments were issued and the parties were incarcerated having found evidence of 16 additional robberies and one attempted robbery each conducted similarly. “The government also found that Sease and his co-conspirators went to the extreme of kidnapping several drug dealers to get them to set up drug deals so that Sease could commit robberies” (Smith, M., 2009). It is noteworthy to mention that after Sease was terminated, he and a co-conspirator, a Memphis reserve police officer continued their illegal activities while pretending to be police officers, based on the evidence presented at
Michael Johnston defines police corruption as actions that “exploit the powers of law enforcement in return for considerations of private-regarding benefit” and that violate formal standards governing his or her conduct. Corrupt acts, John Kleinig writes elsewhere, occur wherever officers “act with the primary intention of furthering private or departmental advantage. What makes corrupt acts egoistic is that their underlying motivation is personal gain. By virtue of their authority, discretion, and the nature of their everyday work, police officers are routinely placed in situations where personal advantage can easily be furthered through unethical and even illegal means. As one might imagine, examples of acts motivated by personal gain are numerous.
Challenges of contemporary policing are evident through the system of the police force itself, through the occurrence of corruption and misconduct. However, there are challenging definitions, based on the view of the author, which means these terms are often used interchangeably and can also be used in a specific and/or broadly manner. Corruption, in reference to police, is defined as ‘acts of commission or omission in return for some gain or promise focuses principally on bribery and on financial arrangements for not enforcing the law’ (Newburn, T, Newyroud, P 2008, p. 51). This further differs from that of mis...
Police corruption is not a new problem in society and there is not a standard way to deal with it. Police officers have enormous power and responsibility and are asked to make difficult decisions. There is not an exact guide to behavior for police officers so their discretion can lead to corruption (Monkkonen, 1999). The existence of police corruption in America has created a negative public view of law enforcement. Police corruption has deteriorated the relationship between law enforcement and the community. In the past four years, more than 500 officers in 47 cities have been convicted of various federal crimes. Local and state authorities in 32 other jurisdictions are either engaged in active investigations or prosecutions of dirty cops (Johnson,1998) .
The police officer stands at the top of the criminal justice system in a nation where crime rates are high and where the demands for illegal goods and services are widespread. These conditions create a situation in which the police officer is confronted with opportunity to accept a large number of favors or grants. Police corruption occurs in many forms and observers of police behavior agree that it falls into nine specific areas. Drug related police corruption differs from other types of police corruption. In addition to protecting criminals or ignoring their activities, officers involved in drug related corruption were more likely to be involved in stealing drugs and/or money from drug dealers, selling drugs, lying under oath about illegal searches, and other crimes. Although not enough data was available upon which to base an estimate of the extent of corruption, the amount of cases of police corruption proved that it was striking enough to concern the public. The most commonly identified patterns of corruption involved small groups of officers who protected and assisted each other in criminal activities. The demands of the public and politicians, however, have caused an outrage and a fear that open investigations and accusations of corruption will cause the problem of distrust in the police to grow even greater.
Holloway (2002), describes corruption as two types, these include internal and external corruption. Internal corruption is an unethical agreement that takes place among a group of police officers and comprises of major changes and decisions of administrative policies that are inappropriate and illegal. Internal policies and unjustified removal of officials, or carrying out behavior within prison situations that are illegal and even releasing inmates by accepting bribes given to a group of police bureaucrats are all part of internal corruption which explains the downfall of entire police departments and may even involve several police officers within the agency. On the other hand, external corruption is illegal acts and agreements with members of society. This illegal agreement can be between individuals and police officers within the police department. Holloway indicates that three distinct elements of police ...
We as a department must establish not only a minimal standard of conduct for our officers but also aspire to set high goals for all our employees. We as public employees must strive to be vigilant against corruption and remain ethically sound. The trust and confidence of the citizens of the state is an important matter that must be maintained. The Policing profession is a noble profession and attracts individuals who have certain characteristics such as being responsible and having an authoritative personality and one who acts on behalf of others without concern for their own safety and well being. Many of these officers have a preconceived notion of what the profession is about and how to make the world a safer place for all citizens. ("Noble cause corruption," 2010) (Martinelli, 2006)
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.
There is a tremendous degree of expectation placed upon the law enforcement profession. It demands high ethical quality because they represent their profession, their whole agency, badge and their obligation to serve the public. Law enforcement officers are given the role to uphold the law and to protect the public and property, and must employ sound judgement and discretion. Their ethical decision making process is crucial in order to perform their commitment professionally to build and maintain public trust.
Beyond doubt, the police play a crucial role in maintaining law and order in the communities. Professionalism and effective performance of their duties impacts large number of the stakeholders, including the police officers themselves, law abiding citizens, offenders and their families, as well as many others. If we look closer, an interaction with a police officer could be a life-changing event for a potential law-breaker. The decisions police officers make in the line of duty are sometimes matters of life and death, freedom and incarceration. Every discretionary action of a particular police
Differential experiences of police corruption, (either as personal or vicarious) contributes in large for the police to either receive low or high levels of occupational prestige. Its worth noting that, the administration of the police is set-up to protect life and property, avoid and detecting crime, recognize crime and criminals, and keep up peace and maintain order (Newburn 1973, Sherman, Gottfredson, Mackenzie and Eck, 1997, Waddington 1999, Rawlings 2002, Wright 2002, Aning 2006). Hence, the offence(s), in this context, corruption practices of one officer can circulate among members of the society with, on most occasions, no capacity to relieve or accommodate the impact/harm on the part of the police.
The noble cause corruption is the use of unethical and illegal means to achieve a desired result in the arrest, murder or detention of a potential criminal suspect. Generally, the “noble cause” is defined by Crank and Caldero (2010): “The police are committed to doing good, to finding and arresting bad people” (p.18). This is a problem generally related to police misconduct in the arrest or detention of a criminal, without due process. In some cases, police officers can use unlawful entry, physical abuse, and even murder to justify the “noble cause” of their motives in the line of duty. The noble cause corruption is a major issue in policing ethics due to the unlawful nature of policing in removing dangerous criminals from society.
Corruption in police departments is like a disease, in which it slowly cripples the organization from performing its duties. The longer it festers, the harder it becomes to eliminate the problem. In addition, with the “don’t make waves attitude” that is reinforced in almost every police organization; none of the police officers are willing to come forward and share the truth about some of this corruption. These officers fear losing the trust of other officers by not going with the flow. All officers in an organization or unit are expected to partake in the same behaviors, and this would include, if one officer takes money than they all take money. At the very least, they are expected to keep quiet about the corruption.
Police corruption is an unexplained phenomenon, in the hope of rooting out the behavior that serves to undermine the legitimacy of law enforcement (Martin, 2011). In order to control and reduce police corruption, one must consider evaluating humanity. Police officers are people, controlling the behavior of officers is to implement effective training to prevent the occurrences of corruption, from the top. Corruption of the criminal justice system seems to be an increasing worldwide. The most noted media highlights include officers abusing their power, ethnic profiling and police inhumaneness. As a result, some individuals in society have a hard time trusting officers and their applied methods when dealing with potential suspects. A few ways
People often believe that there is no other profession that require high ethical standard than the Department of Law Enforcement. Every law enforcement officers in the United States of America should at least know that they live in a fishbowl because friends, neighbors, relatives, strangers are able to watch every move a police officer does regardless it is on duty and off duty. The community residents scrutinize law enforcement officers more than any other important occupations because law enforcement officers are an image of a strong leader and are a role model for children, however, others hope to catch them on their mistakes due to their perfect image. It is stated from the Federal Bureau of Investigations that a leader set the authority for their department and ethical performance (Fortenbery, 2015). In today’s society, the media are continuing to display police officers on their wrongdoing. In addition, police officers are required to serve and protect the community from harmful criminals, but they continue to use unjustified actions such as excessive use of force, abuse of authority, speeding, and misuse of public office.
There are constant factors that makes it possible for corruption among our law enforcement (Newburn & Webb, 1999). Discretion can be big factor. Discretion allows police law enforcement to make their own decisions whether to enforce law on different situations. This gives opportunity for their decision to be influence for a personal gain instead of making a professional decision (Newburn & Webb, 1999). Another part of discretion that can lead to corruption is the battle between internal and external goals for policing. Discretion is not the only thing that is very important, but also police work (Newburn & Webb, 1999). Other constant factors are “low managerial visibility, peer group secrecy, managerial secrecy, and association with police officers contact with lawbreaker” (Newburn & Webb, 1999, p.17). Another factor is low public visibility because the public does not a large amount of what police do. Status problems is a constant factor because police are stated to not be paid as much as the authority they have obtain. Newburn and Webb (1999) that there are not only constant factors that comes into play, but there are also variable factors such as “community structure, organizational characteristics, legal opportunities for corruption, corruption control, social organization of corruption, and last moral cynicism” (p.