Law Enforce Agencies: Police Corruption

In February 2013, “the leader of the Black Guerilla Family gang, Tavon White, managed to impregnate four prison guards, two of whom got tattoos of his name. He also convinced the guards to smuggle in cell phones and other contraband” (Thirteen). Police corruption is a tangled mystery that typically spills into two groups: external corruption, which relates the police and the public; and internal corruption, which relates the policemen and the police department. Police corruption happens all the time. “Corruption is the illegal use of authority; behavior that abuses ones power and honesty, and usually involves bribery” (White). While there’s no explanation for police corruption, there are only a handful of strategies, ideas, and reactions that can prevent it from happening. “Stricter screening methods should be enforced. If he can successfully complete all the integrity obstacles, it becomes more likely he will be honest,” (White). Police corruption has been recognized as a problem in America for at least 100 years, and multiple reform movements and departmental programs to reduce or eliminate corruption have been attempted. To ensure the ethical behavior of officers, agencies have to control three basic tenets: first, they must have a rule in existence that tells their ethical mission and sets requirements that officers need live up to; second, agencies must ensure that they hire ethical people and appropriately deal with those onboard who are not; third, capable and ethical authority needs to exist and be constant. These executives set the tone for the department and lead by example, never choosing the easy route in lieu of the ethical one.

Law enforcement agencies aim to recruit, hire, and train only those who establish strong ...

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...existed in the police force since ad infinitum, it is conceivable that some or all of these methods have been attempted in some capacity. In addition to the need for active prosecutions, federal prosecutors have to interact in community outreach to assure that all residents of a community know that they can express in stopping corruption. While corruption will never be gotten rid of from our public, vigorous investigation and prosecution of corrupt officials can serve to reduce its harmful effects and, most importantly, greatly diminish the culture of acceptance. An Austrian writer and journalist, known as a satirist and considered the first major European satirist since Jonathan Swift, Karl Kraus once said “Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.”