Police Corruption Essays (1796 words) - Abuse, Crime Prevention

Police Corruption Police Corruption Introduction: What is Corruption Corruption can be defined as the misuse of public power for private or personal profit. Corruption can be by people many different ways. One cannot assume that corruption always means the same thing or has the same impact on society (Goldstein). There are two very different types of corruption. The first type occurs where services or contracts are provided ?according to rule.? The second is when transactions are ?against the rule.? In the first type, an officer is receiving private gain illegally for doing something that he or she is ordinarily required to do by law. In the second type, the bribe is paid to obtain services that the officer is prohibited from providing. ?According to rule? and ?against the rule? corruption can occur at all levels the policing system. They can also range in scale and impact. Another way that corruption can be defined is the behavior involved on the part of officials in the public sector, whether police officers or civil servants, in which they improperly and unlawfully, enrich themselves, by the use of public power that was entrusted to them (Ades). These are not the only way to look at corruption. Public opinion is also a large influence on the attitudes of the people in the community. They can surpass many different legal definitions of police corruption. If public opinion and legal definitions do not conform, the likelihood is that officials will act in accordance with the public view, and in doing so, violate the law (Goldstein). As a result of this, the public should be completely aware of the damage corruption can cause to society. Causes of Police Corruption There are many causes of police corruption. One cause of police corruption is the wide authority that is throughout the system. A way to prevent this is to limit the authority. Increasing the competitive bidding of the selection process could do this. Another cause is that police officers are offered wrong incentives for their work. The incentives need to be realigned to provide better living wages. Also, incentives should be provided based on performance (Ades). To continue, another major cause of police corruption are the anti-system attitudes portrayed by people. They are worried too much about personal loyalties instead of rule of law and public sarcasm. The best way to help combat against this is to raise the awareness about the costs of corruption (Trojanowicz). One final cause of corruption that will be discussed is the idea of an underdeveloped society. This concept has a large impact on the people. One way to prevent this is by strengthening the business associations in the community. This will provide a larger area of community awareness. Another way is to improve the watchdog groups in the community. This will also help the community become more aware of what is happening day to day in their society. Without a watchdog organization that has teeth, police know they can hide behind civil-service protections until the latest scandal passes by. Then they come out again when the coast is clear (Punch). All of these ideas are concerns and are large factors that can be looked at to cut back on police corruption. Examples of Police Corruption Police corruption occurs over many different areas of the law. Police corruption occurs most often when dealing with drugs. One such example is that of a NYPD police officer Kenneth Eurell. On May 6, 1992 six New York City police officers and one retired NY police officer were arrested in a five-month undercover drug operation. The Suffolk county police dept. tapped the phone of a low level street dealer and soon found out that NYC police officers were involved in a multi-level drug operation. Suffolk County in cooperation with the NYPD internal affairs unit arrested all of the officers involved and 49 civilians. The probe that lasted five months included undercover drug buys and electronic surveillance. Twenty-five vehicles were seized and over $30,000 in cash. Also seized was an undisclosed amount of drugs. The cops acted as venture capitalists and pooled their money to buy cocaine from known Brooklyn drug dealers for resale in Suffolk County. According to Suffolk authorities the c ops made purchases that amounted to four