The Subject of Police Corruption - Essay Example

? Police Corruption Police Corruption Introduction Police corruption is like a plague for police systems throughout the world, it haseven been a part of the American policing system since the creation of the system. Due to existence of police corruption for so many years, it has been debated over and over again and is still under discussion. Researchers have been conducted on this subject as police corruption has proved to play a negative role for different societies. Researchers have concluded that individuals responsible to conduct police duties are vulnerable to corruption as these individuals have authority, they have discretion to take actions on their own, their duty is such that they are in constant contact with different crime committers, and actions they perform are not always in the best interest of the public. As compared to yesterday years, police corruption might have decreased but it has never left the system or the people responsible to operate the system have failed to erase its mark. Corruption conducted by police men ends up disrupting the entire system, corruption leads to lack of fair dealing, it ends up offending other individual’s moral and ethical values, individuals indulged in corruption end up committing immoral behavior, the benchmark gets distorted and it even acts against the moral standards of others operating in the policing system. The cost of corruption is very high and this increases the liability on the shoulders of the individuals of the policing system. Police corruption leads to the end of a positive relationship between the officials and the public. Discussion According to Carter and Baker, misconduct conducted by policing officials is of four types, these include: corruption, misbehavior, work-related deviance and deviance. Police corruption is not only conducted by the top officials, it is even found in the roots of the system which includes the lower ranks of the department. Officials throughout the hierarchy of policing system have been held responsible for conducting corruption and activities that can be counted as criminal in nature. The managerial levels of policing system are even corrupt and that is due to the special privileges that these officials have due to their positions. It is very hard to identify corruption conducted by managers in policing systems as these managers are in full control of all the activities conducted by the entire system. Theorists have divided corruption conducted by police managers into four types, which include: behaviors that are against the rules of the policing system, behaviors that are counted as negligent, behaviors that are recognized as wrong by policing system rules and these behaviors are conducted intentionally and lastly corruption is caused when managers fail to perform expected duties. The main concern of researchers is that why do police officials conduct corruption. Police corruption refers to all those illegal police activities conducted by police officials who exist in different positions of the hierarchy of the police system. In other words, police corruption is witnessed when an official working in the police department uses his position authority to gain material benefits. An act conducted by police officials is confirmed as an corrupt act when that behavior is recognized unlawful, the behavior results in wrongful use of position power and the behavior is conducted for any material gain. Activities such as stealing department assets, protecting criminals, and taking a bribe are considered as corrupt if the police official is on duty and conducting these activities. Police corruption takes place on individual as well as organizational level. Individual corruption takes place one only one official is involved in corrupt activities and organizational corruption takes place when the entire system or department is conducting corrupt activities. Different theorists have defined police corruption in different ways, certain theorists define it as an act conducted by official for monetary benefits, while others state that it is an act conducted for any benefit, and certain theorists even refer to police corruption as those activities which are not acceptable by law. Theorists have even identified various factors that make a police official commit corruption. These factors include: economic, social, political and cultural factors, theorists have identified that police corruption is either conducted on individual level or on organizational wide level. According to August Vollmer, corruption is conducted by one individual officer and as soon as the system is able to identify and erase this official, police corruption in a particular department will come to an end (Monkkonen, 2002, p.152). This theory is recognized as Rotten Apple Theory. The theory further states that individuals have traits that are related to conducting corruption and these traits are not witnessed while hiring police officials, but as soon as the official who has these traits gets a chance to conduct corruption, he takes the seizes the opportunity. According g to Delattre, police corruption is not conducted by one or two officials of a department; rather it is conducted by a group of officials (Crank, 2000, p.200). These officials conduct corruption by acting against the rules and regulations set by the police system or department. This theorists does not only states that police corruption is an act conducted by single police official, it even states that police corruption is a cultural issue and corruption is embedded into the police system. This theory clearly reflects that an official who might not have traits that are related to committing corruption, but once he becomes a part of a corrupted system, he might even be effected and he might even start committing corruption. Delattre even stated that police corruption starts on negligible and small basis, for example: a police official might start conducting corruption on a small scale by charging bribe in exchange for letting go off small crimes. Delattre states that small scale corruption soon shapes into large scale corruption and police officials start accepting larger rewards for providing larger favors. According to James Madison, all police officials are weak human beings who cannot ignore tempting offers (Ward, 1987, p.14). The probability of a police official committing corruption becomes high if a police official is not trustable. The theory further states that certain officials give priority to self interest over public’s interest and these officials are more likely to commit corrupt acts. Conclusion The subject of police corruption have been in discussion for decades, but theorists and researchers have failed to agree on one definition of police corruption and they have even failed to agree whether corruption is individualistic or organizational. Several factors have contributed to occurrence of police corruption, some of these factors are individualistic such as temptation of one official or his motivation to conduct corruption and some of these factors are organizational based. Organizational factors include peer pressure and pressure to be mistreated for not indulging in these activities. Not all departments or the entire system are corrupt, certain departments within the system are found clean of such wrong doings and others are found guilty of conducting such wrong doings. Researchers have even identified that leadership in policing system plays a major role, where leadership is strong and healthy, the probability of corruption is low, on the other hand, probability of occurrence of corruption is high where leadership is weak. References Crank, J. P., & Caldero, M. A. (2000). Police ethics: The corruption of noble cause. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Pub. Monkkonen, E. H. (2002). Crime, justice, history. Columbus: Ohio State University Press Ward, R. H., McCormack, R., Bracey, D., Ward, R. H., Office of International Criminal Justice., International Association of Chiefs of Police., Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences., ... United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. (1987). Managing police corruption: International perspectives. Chicago: Office of International Criminal Justice, the University of Illinois at Chicago. Read More