Definition and Meaning of Police Corruption - Research Paper Example

?Running Head: POLICE CORRUPTION Police Corruption Submitted by Goes Here September, Police Corruption Corruption in the police department is probably as old as the police department itself. Numerous attempts have been made to fight this menace. Fighting corruption has also been declared as an important objective in the US national foreign policy. Corruption damages the credibility of the whole force even if the acts of corruption have been committed by a small section of the officers (Abusers not Protectors - How Nigerians view their Police Force, 2005). Once the public image has been demoted, people may prefer to fight injustices in other ways than to take assistance of the law. This ultimately proves disastrous for the whole criminal justice system. Police has been vested with enormous powers; these powers are essential for maintaining the rule of law. However these powers can also be the source of corruption as people are usually at the mercy of the police officers in many circumstances where they have been wronged. People who have been fighting for democracy and governance regard the issue of fighting police corruption with utmost importance. Police must not only serve the common man but should also be seen as serving the common man. This is essential if basic human rights have to be protected and people have to live in safe and secure environments. When people who have been entrusted with the task of protecting people, engage in corruption themselves it leads to cynicism and may erode public confidence in democracy. Police corruption is not a standalone issue. It is a function of larger systematic problem which is compounded by lack of transparency , absence of checks and balances and fragile institutions. Although the popular perception is always that police corruption is rampant and should be death with an iron hand it is not always possible to do this. The government and the judiciary have to always take sensitivities into account. This paper tries to find out the different kinds of police corruption that are prevalent and also tries to find out the solution to the problem through a systematic method. Understanding Police Corruption In very simple terms corruption may be defined as the use of public powers in order to get personal gains. Police corruption occurs at both the levels – on the streets and also behind the scenes in offices. Officers corruption range from petty corruption to collusion with criminals where the look the other way and do not perform their constitutional duties. The extreme end is when police officers themselves take part in criminal activities in order to have financial or other benefits. Police officers have been vested with enormous powers in order to enforce law. These include the powers to stop, question, search, arrest people and even use lethal force whenever circumstances deteriorate. The important thing is that police have extraordinary amount of discretion in the exercise of these powers which give ample avenues for corruption. Backroom corruption in the police department does not consist of the use of these powers but involves irregular and illegal practices in the award of contracts, receiving kickbacks for favorable appointments and transfers and negligence in investigations and discipline. This corruption is done by supervisors and senior officers and thus the amount of money involved is also large. We will analyze each of these cases of corruption in detail here. Petty Individual Corruption Whenever we talk about police corruption to a common man, the most common type of corruption which comes to our minds is traffic police corruption. This form of corruption may be limited din developed countries but is extremely prevalent in every developing country. Some countries are so notorious for traffic police corruption that whenever a person is stopped for police checking he assumes that he will have to cough up. Other forms of petty corruption include extorting regular payments from market vendors, asking people to pay money for services which are their right and arresting people based on laws which do not really make sense just to extract money from them (Challenges for Developing Countries , 2003). However petty corruption should not be blamed entirely on the police .In most of these cases the transaction is usually initiated by the members of public. They may not support corruption in general but do not have any problem in giving small amount of money to escape tickets and jail terms. Each transaction of this petty individual corruption might be low but it is this corruption which actually erodes public confidence in the law and needs to be dealt with strictly. Corruption in the backroom office is generally not visible to the general public unless the scam becomes too big but this type of petty corruption is encountered daily by them. However this type of corruption needs more sensitivity to handle as lower level officers who actually implement the law are involved in it .If we come down too hardly on them ; they might retaliate back with lax enforcement of law . Bureaucratic Corruption Police forces and not small organizations. They are mammoth forces and involve thousands of employees and own extensive assets. One form of bureaucratic corruption is infecting theft by senior police officers where thy siphon off benefit funds or receives kickbacks for issuing tenders. In Peru 30million $ were found to be missing from police benefit funds. In April 2005, Inspector General of Police of Nigeria was charged with siphoning off more than US$98 million (Neild, 2009). Apart from siphoning off funds tender manipulation is the norm in both developing as well as developed countries. These tenders are issued by the police department for variety of purposes ranging from buying new guns to office stationery. Some officers regard it as their right to receive some sort of kickbacks for giving such a large amount of business to the firm. In some police services money changes hands whenever promotions or transfers are discussed. This is almost like working for organized crime syndicates rather than public services. Criminal Corruption Generally speaking all types of corruption activities are banned by the law and are criminal activities. However here by criminal corruption we mean cases where police officers are actually involved in breaking the law in order to gain monetary benefits. This corruption usually involves collusion with gangs where they receive kick backs or their share from criminals whenever a crime takes place on their turf. Police officers may also receive payments fro leaking information to crime syndicates about raids and investigations. Police officers are also involved in cases of turning blind eye in cases of drug abuse by the rich and famous. It has been claimed that most drug dealers are known to police officers and still they cannot be controlled simply because police officers receive kickbacks from them (Bayley, 1969). This type of corruption is however low as compared to other forms of corruption. The important thing here is that money from criminal corruption is also looked down upon by majority of police officers. While a traffic policeman will not be banished by his fellow officers for accepting bribe but an officer involved in drug cartel is looked down upon. Political Corruption Police officers have been given enormous powers to deal with difficult situations. Politicians may normally try to influence police officers in order to gain personal benefits. The benefits of breaking up a demonstration or tarnishing the image of opponents by initiating police action against them has always lured politicians to control the police officers. The final powers of executives are ultimately in the hands of elected representatives of the people. If these representatives have vested interests it is very difficult to accept impartiality from police officers who have the threat of losing their jobs if they disobey their political masters. Political policing invites a lot of troubles; it may even fuel ethnic tensions as was the case in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots of India where police force has been accused of turning a blind eye at the behest of politicians. Examples of different types of police corruption (Bracey, 1992)– Petty Individual Corruption Bureaucratic Corruption Criminal Corruption Political Corruption Minor bribes from civilians Contracting kickbacks Kicbacks from known criminals Manupulating Investigations Gifts and free services Theft of benefits Regular pay off from criminal groups False investigations Misplacing court files Selling information on raids , investigations Providing support to criminals by providing back up or cover Suppresing freedom of speech and expression Using police vehicle and other resources for personal use Bribes for trasnfers ,assignments etc Direct participation in crime such as kidnapping Leaking information to anti-national organisations. Strategies for Preventing Corruption Although police corruption is a problem which is faced by many police organizations all across the world; however it is not a problem which can be easily tackled through proper steps. Police corruption cannot be completely eliminated in any way because a lot of corrupt practices depend on individuals too (Braithwaite, 1989). Even if very strict anti-corruption laws are made and a lot of transparency is brought in the police departments there will be individuals who will outsmart all these and able to indulge in corruption. Here we will discuss strategies to tackle different kinds of corruption. Tackling Petty Corruption One method which has been suggested in order to tackle corruption among lower ranking officers has been to improve their salaries and benefits. These officers all across the world are very poorly paid and there is a sharp divide between their salaries and their responsibilities and powers. Effort should also be made to review their career progression, the type of assignments which are provided to them and following the policy of rotation in case of difficult assignments. Apart from increasing police salaries we also need to make it easier for public to report police corruption (Carter, 1990). Well publicized complaint mechanisms and tip off lines will deter police officers from initiating corrupt transactions. Public awareness campaigns should also be launched in order to inform public about the ill effect that such pretty corruption can have. In cases where public initiates corruption the law should punish both the civilian as well as the police officer. Tackling Bureaucratic Corruption The best means of tackling corruption arising because of bureaucratic procedures is transparency and the use of information technology. Tenders should not be filed in secrecy; they should be placed on the website of the police department and the lowest bidder should be automatically selected by software in which selection parameters have been pre-feeded. Bureaucratic procedures become much less corrupt with the effective use of information technology as it brings a lot of transparency (Aldous, 2008). Apart from this administrative and audit system should be strengthened in order to prevent this kind of corruption. Services like housekeeping and ensuring provision of stationery should be outsourced and not kept with the police department. This will not only reduce their work load but will also reduce chances of corruption. Tackling Criminal Corruption This is the type of corruption which should be dealt with an iron hand. Police officers are supposed to protect people from criminals; if the collude with criminals it leads to a complete collapse of the criminal justice system. This is the type of corruption which can become very difficult for the state to address. The benefits which can be attained by officers by colluding with drug mafias and organized crime syndicates far outweigh and benefits which the state can provide (Barker, 2007). The state needs to follow a two prolonged strategy here – to pinpoint police officers who are already engaged in this kind of corruption and secondly to discourage officers who may fall into this trap by setting an example that no offender will go unpunished. Majority of officers do not take kindly to officers who renege in this kind of corruption so an effective whistle blower system will help in catching of corrupt police officers. Tackling Political Corruption Democratically elected governments are the representatives of the people. In a democracy these representatives have the finals say in matters of the state. So it is not possible to make the police completely independent from any interference from politicians. However politicians should only involve themselves in setting policy directions for police ; they should not be allowed to interfere directly in the day to day operations of the police force. The most important thing in this regard is the freedom of operation given to senior police officers. They are the one which have the power to resist political pressure or succumb to it. Politicians cannot be completely removed from the selection of important police officers like the city police commissioner. However once the selection has been made by them, these officers should have security of tenure and service and their removal should be made extremely difficult to give them independence. Another method of checking political interference is to make police force responsible to commission or bodies which are not entirely controlled by politicians but have many different people along with politicians (Implementation of Reform with the Queensland, 1994). This will prevent partisan handling of affairs by police officers due to internal checks and balances in these commissions Conclusion Completely removing police corruption is highly desirable but it may not be possible to do so. Yet it is possible to have checks and balances both internal as well as external which will be able to detect corruption and minimize it. Police corruption undermines public trust in the democratic set up and thus its costs are far beyond the financial loss that is caused to the state. Police corruption needs to be tackled in order to ensure that public confidence in democratic institutions remains high. They should look forward to meet a police officer in case something wrong has happened and should not be afraid of meeting him. He should not fear the amount of money he will have to pay for visiting an officer. References (2005). Abusers not Protectors - How Nigerians view their Police Force. Lagos: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Aldous, C. (2008). The Police in Occupation : Control and corruption. New York: Routledge. Barker, T. a. (2007). Police Deviance . Ohio: Anderson Publishing Company. Bayley, D. (1969). The Police and Political Development in India. New Delhi: Asian Publication Press. Bracey, D. H. (1992). ‘Police corruption and community relations: Community. Washington D.C: SAGE. Braithwaite, J. (1989). Crime, Shame and Reintegration. Cambridge: Cambridge university Press. Carter, D. (1990). ‘Drug-related corruption of police officers. Amsterdam: SAGE. (2003). Challenges for Developing Countries . Hintsville, Texas: Office of International Criminal Justice. Implementation of Reform with the Queensland. (1994). NewYork: Criminal Justice Commission Neild, G. C. (2009). Police Reform in Peru. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, Vol 38, Issue 2 , 25-36. Read More