Police Corruption and Misconduct

Police corruption and misconduct come apparent in many different forms. A basic definition for police corruption is, when an officer gets involved in offenses where the officer uses his or her position, by act or omission, to obtain improper financial benefit. The main reason for such corruption is typically for personal gain, such as bribery. Police abuse of authority occurs in three different general areas such as physical abuse, psychological abuse, and legal abuse. Physical abuse is such abuse where one uses excessive force or physical harassment. The psychological abuse occurs through disrespect, harassment, ridicule, excessive stops, or intimidation. Finally, legal abuse is abuse that occurs during unlawful search and seizure or manufacturing evidence (Pollock, 2012). One source describes police corruption in eight different ways. They include: corruption of authority, kickbacks, opportunistic theft, shakedowns, protection of illegal acts, the fix, direct criminal acts, and internal payoffs (Roebuck & Barker, 1974).

To get into the different types of corruption and misconduct, Pollock discusses six. You have gratuities, professional courtesy, use of alcohol and drugs on the job, graft, sexual misconduct, and criminal cops. Gratuities are basically items that are given to individuals, not because of the relationship between the receiver and the giver, but rather on the receiver’s role or position. A common example of this would be the accepting of free coffee. Many stores offer such things for appreciation of the officer’s work. An excellent example of this is the Holiday Gas Station in Marquette. The store gives free coffee to the officers of the Marquette area. Police courtesy is a common practice of not giving an...

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...ure tends to be the reason for the misconduct, then changing it is an important aspect. Finally, a department needs ethical leadership. If strict and fair discipline is involved, then potential misconduct is deterred from view (Pollock, 2012).

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.