Police Brutality and Corruption
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...
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...ll help to weed out the bad candidates from future police officer positions. The fight against corruption will be a long battle as the problems of yesterday, still remain today, with little to none improvement.
Bibliography
Bibliography Why Good Cops Go Bad. Newsweek, p.18. Carter, David L. (1986). Deviance & Police. Ohio: Anderson Publishing Co. Castaneda, Ruben (1993, Jan. 18). Bearing the Badge of Mistrust. The Washington Post, p.11. Dantzer, Mark L. (1995). Understanding Today's Police. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. James, George (1993, Mar. 29). Confessions of Corruption. The New York Times, P.8, James, George (1993, Nov. 17). Officials Say Police Corruption is Hard To Stop. The New York times, p.3. Sherman, Lawrence W(1978). Commission Findings. New York Post, P. 28 Walker, J.T. (1992). The police in America, p.243-263, chp. 10, Walker, Samuel (1999).
Serve and Protect are common words associated with police officers, however some law enforcement officers taint the honor and integrity of the job. Police Corruption is a serious problem affecting nearly every city across the country and world. Curbing police corruption is a tall order; however, improving the recruitment and training process and internal controls can bring this issue to an abrupt stop.
Goodman, B. & Dewan, S. (2007, April 27). Prosecutors Say Corruption in Atlanta Police Dept. Is Widespread. The New York Times. Retrieved December 18, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/27atlanta.html
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
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 misconduct is as rampant as ever in America, and it has become a fixture of the news cycle. Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. The media is inevitably drawn toward tales of conflict, hence why there are so many crime and police stories on the news. Despite the increasing frequency of misbehaving cops, many Americans still maintain a high respect for the man in uniform. Still, police misconduct is a systemic problem, not just an anecdotal one. Here are some reasons why it is a problem. First, many departments do not provide adequate training in nonviolent solutions. With this, police are unfamiliar with what to
The illegality that necessarily denote corruption it is the purpose of the illegality that adds the substance to get out of corruption. The duties of an officer are to serve mankind; to safeguard lives and property, to protect the innocent against deception, and etc. Viewing all three articles on corruption was very overwhelming because it’s hard for citizens to put their trust into officers who supposed to protect them but instead frame the innocent for their wrongful actions. The danger of corruption for police is that it may invent the former goals of the organization and may lead to the use of organizational power to encourage and create crime rather than to defer it. General police defiance can include brutality, discrimination, sexual harassment, intimidation, and illicit use of
Walker, S., & Katz, C. (2012). Police in America: An Introduction (8th Edition ed.). New York:
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.
One may ask themselves, if law enforcement officers are working to protect the public, why would they commit corruption like they do? As it is described above, corruption is a big part in the law enforcement sector of society. The entire concept is quite complex although it may seem self explanatory to many people. Learning the many types of corruption and misconduct is only the beginning, then, to understand why the officers commit the conduct for which they do. With all this, it becomes apparent to the certain measures that need to be taken to rid society and police departments of the conduct that is constantly present.
The article Police Integrity: Rankings of Scenarios on the Klockars Scale by “Management Cops,” conveys that the different scenarios for each definition and the nature of police work make this corruption difficult to specifically define (Vito 153). Since it is so challenging to correctly define, the three broad ca...
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.
Police officers primary responsibility is to protect and serve citizens and communities, not to abuse the laws by hurting innocent people. In most states Stand-Your-Ground laws allows innocent citizens the right to use deadly force to defend and protect themselves. But what if they were protecting themselves from police brutality. Police brutality has been going on for many years; they can cause riots, injuries, and even mistrust for the police.
In our times, the police have become the criminals. Some police are using their power to do bad things, and society has come to fear police. The law enforcement system needs change. The courts have failed the police, and the police have turn to other means of justice. We must stop the corruption in the police force.
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.
What is police corruption? Overall police corruption is an officer’s personal gain through the misrepresentation of police power. Police corruption comes in many forms. It can be as insignificant as accepting a free cup of coffee from a coffee shop, accepting bribes in lieu of investigation or arrest, ticket fixing, and greed. Cases of police corruption are cited frequently across the United States. Corruption is nothing new, but why does it continue to go on within law enfo...