Management of Police Corruption or Misconduct and Ethics - Research Paper Example

Running head: Police misconducts Management of Police Corruption/Misconduct and Ethics Abstract Police corruption, misconduct, and brutality are widely discussing subjects in most of the countries irrespective of difference in political regime like democratic, socialistic or autocratic. Police is often considered as the sign of justice in theory, but in practice, quiet often police personnel put even hard core criminal well behind as far as corruption and criminal activities are concerned. Some of the police officers utilize their power not to give protection to the life and wealth of citizen, but to execute their own self interests. This paper analyzes the management of police misconduct and corruption in an ethical perspective giving primary importance to the US police activities. Introduction “The word 'police' stems from the Greek word 'politeia' meaning, state, administration, and government. In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales we find the word 'policie' meaning organized government, civil administration.  Later in about 1589 we find the French word 'policer' meaning to keep order.  The first recorded use in English of 'police' in specific reference to those concerned with enforcing the law and maintaining public order is found in about 1730 in Scotland” (The origin of Police) As per the current concepts, the word POLICE stands for Polite, Obedient, Loyal, Intelligent, Courageous and Efficient. The above concept may stand on paper alone most of the times. In practice, majority of the police officers have exactly the opposite qualities mentioned above. Corruption is a global phenomenon. No segment of the society is free from that and police force is also not an exception. The preliminary aim of all the police forces may be to keep law and order in a country. It is their duty to take prevents all the misconducts in the society and to avoid all the unethical behaviours in the society. Moreover, they should fight against all sorts of corruption. But in practice, the above concepts seem to be a distant dream as far as the functioning of the majority police officers in United States are concerned. Literature Review Police corruption is the abuse of police authority for personal gain. Corruption may involve profit or another type of material benefit gained illegally as a consequence of the officer's authority. Typical forms of corruption include Bribery, Extortion, receiving or fencing stolen goods, and selling drugs. The term also refers to patterns of misconduct within a given police department or special unit, particularly where offenses are repeated with the acquiescence of superiors or through other ongoing failure to correct them. (Police corruption and misconduct) Police officers begin their involvement in corrupt practices by accepting items of small value. Once they cross this line, they line find it easier to engage in more serious violations of ethical codes, organisational rules and criminal laws (Ivkovic p.4) Free cups of coffee, half priced meals, and discounts given on police officers on a regular basis can add up to substantial financial expenses for restaurants and stores and disrupt the equity in the distribution of police services (Ivkovic p.5) Police officers have a false belief that since they were working for the society, it is the duty of the society to look after them by providing complements and concessions. Most of the police officers will not take tickets when they use private carriers for transportation purposes. Moreover, they believe that they have every right to get free or subsidized meals from hotels and restaurants. Corruption starts from such small things and will later attain fearful propositions. Even for legal matters or to get justice from the authorities, poor citizens forced to give bribes to the police officers. For example, in order to get a passport, in most of the countries, police verification is required. The citizens who applied for the passport may be forced to give bribes to the verification officer in order to avoid any deliberate attempt from the police officer’s side to delay the process. When the soaring economy of the 1990s caused the number of applications to dwindle to a tiny fraction of those received in past years, the majority of law enforcement administrators across America simply selected the best person from a small group of poor applicants. As a result, most agencies throughout the country have now appointed officers they would have never hired ten, fifteen or twenty year ago. The consequences of hiring these officers will be devastating, and nothing is going to prevent it, for the damage is already done. The character of a person does not change because he or she is suddenly wearing the uniform of an officer or deputy. If we employ a thief, the person is likely to steal on duty when a good opportunity presents itself. The same reality applies for hiring someone who is a bully, bigot or enjoys abusing women sexually. Making the situation even more severe is that research now reveals the average age of an officer who commits misconduct serious enough for their state certification to be revoked, is 32. The average years in law enforcement when the revocation offense occurs is 7.2 years. In other words, all those officers the profession should have never hired are now nearing the period most prone to serious corruption; the 5-10 year time span, when cynicism grows strong.(Trautman, Ph.D) The main reason for the increase in police corruption at present in US is due to the fact that many undeserved people are at the top positions of the US police force. These people may not have the integrity and honesty to lead the police force in the right direction. When the economy boom happened in the 1990’s in US, people’ s interest in joining the police force has come down drastically which forced the authorities to recruit only the best candidates from a small group of applicants. This recruiting policy has resulted in positioning the wrong person at the wrong place. Police force is the most important segment in the society as far as law and order is concerned. But at present the persons who are responsible for preserving the laws has taken the laws in hand for their own benefits. The first thing that must happen to stop the continuing harm to our profession is for chiefs and sheriffs to immediately make recruitment and hiring a high priority. The second major solution is for top leaders to step forward and address the issue of integrity with honesty and courage. After calculating the results, you will have the third and fourth key solutions; a basic integrity assessment of your department and a good starting place. Rectifying the dozens of flaws the checklist is likely to expose, is an outstanding beginning. (Trautman, Ph.D) The current police hiring process needs drastic changes in the structural and functional areas. The present methods employed to identify the talents for the post of a police officer in US is not adequate. Still the recruiting methods follow the traditional methods in identifying the talents. The hired personnel should be given enough training and lessons with respect to the need of honesty and integrity in the police force. The hired persons should never be taken their profession in a light manner. They must understand that they are the idols in the society as far as honesty is concerned. Only a person with honesty and integrity can handle the cases with respect to crimes and violations of law and order. Federal law prohibits discrimination in police work. Any police department receiving federal funding is covered by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000d) and the Office of Justice Programs statute (42 U.S.C. § 3789d[c]), which prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, and religion. These laws prohibit conduct ranging from racial slurs and unjustified arrests to the refusal of departments to respond to discrimination complaints (Police Corruption and Misconduct - History, Contemporary Problems) The federal laws are strict with respect to keeping the police force clean and free of any corruption. But the problem remains in the implementation parts. Most of the police crimes has been taken lightly or has not been proved in the court because of the influence of the police force in the investigation and collecting evidences. Police will be reluctant to investigate the crimes against them and it is foolishness to expect that a police officer who investigates the crimes against his department will act impartially. Corruption and misconduct of police Police corruption usually protects other criminal activities. Moreover, corruption undermines the effectiveness of the criminal justice system. Corrupted police officers often keep a blind eye towards other criminal activities to save themselves. They cannot tackle other criminal activities as their own corruption histories will haunt them. All the reported corruptions may result in heavy lawsuits which will cost the taxpayers millions of dollars per year. Corruption undermines the public confidence in the police force. Public trust is important for the functioning of police force. Police will never get the cooperation from the public if they lose their belief in the police force due to corruption. Police corruption occurs mainly because of the following reasons; Police have authority to enforce law. Police also have the discretion to not enforce the law. Police receive relatively low to medium pay, but have important responsibilities. Police become cynical about the courts’ soft treatment of criminals. It is difficult for a police officer to establish crime through a calm, quiet and decent manner. In most of the cases the police officers may be forced to use force to establish crime. No criminals will confess their crime if the officers uses fair means. So in an attempt to establish crimes and getting the rewards, these police officers may quiet often torture innocent people brutally. The salary structure of American police is low compared to other sectors in the American bureaucracy. Moreover, the risk involved in the police duties is more compared to any other profession especially under the current world filled with terrorism. It is not guaranteed that all the criminals charged by the police may be punished by the court. The court has different criteria in establishing crimes which may result in some of the criminals escape from punishment. The morality of police force will be destroyed by such actions and they may begin to think that corruption and criminal activities are taken lightly by the law and order of the country. “It is politicians, who usually influence the hiring of police chiefs, prescribe their budgets and decide how and why they will conduct their enforcement activities. This naturally results in a no-win situation for police as they faced the seamy aspects of society and are often accused of using pure judgements for doing what they perceived to be their duty, especially in the absence of a clearly defined role for them in our complex society” (Colonel McKetta, p.14) Politicians were unable to take strong action on most of the corrupted officials because of their own corruption history. The corrupted officials may have documents and evidences of the corruption cases of their superiors (politicians) and they will threaten the politicians using such documents in order to execute their corrupted missions. Most of the politicians who controls the police forces may be the corrupted ones. The police forces may be forced to keep the political corruption as a secret because of their superior’s involvement in such scandals. Such forced activities may often demoralize the moral of police force which will compel them to think in terms of corruption. Fabrication of evidences in order to establish the crime is another example of police misconduct. Police quiet often use their power to silence their enemies. Common people are often hesitant in registering complaints in the police stations because of the suspected torture from the police force. They know very well that in order to enquire about a complaint most of the police officers ask certain kind of favours mostly in the form of bribes. In most of the cases, a single police officer can spoil the entire reputation of the force. The image of the police force is already not a good one in the society and any single immoral behaviour can be sensationalized by the media. Media always looking for news and they know very well that what type of information may be interesting to the public. Public on the other hand waiting for an opportunity to exaggerate misconducts of the police force because of the bad treatment quiet often they suffered from the hands of police. Prevention of police misconduct and corruption Some of the police corruption prevention strategies are listed below; Extensive background checks and psychological testing on police candidates Implement robust Police policies and discipline procedures Proactive internal affairs investigations Outside review and special prosecutors Make everyone accountable Ethics Training Variously prosecute those who are caught Rotate Assignments Court review and oversight Police Dash cameras Anonymous tip lines Online citizen police Complaint forms Uniform enforcement of the law Police corruption can be prevented only through the implementation of strong strategies even from the hiring process. All the candidates should be analyzed personally and also his backgrounds should be taken into the account before hiring him in the services. Heredity and environment plays a vital role in the character making and evidences for such things must be considered before the selection process. Police force must be given proper training on professional ethics and they must be made aware that they are holding the important responsibility of keeping the law and order in United States. The criminal investigation procedures must be revised thoroughly and also the punishment for the violation of code of ethics should be increased. No police officer should be posted on the same assignment at a place for more than one or two years. They should be rotated frequently to break their ties with the criminals in the society. Police corruption cases must be investigated with the help of some other similar agencies in order to avoid partiality. In order to reduce misconducts and corruption and also to make the police force more acceptable to the public, policing has been divided into two sections; Community oriented policing and problem oriented policing. Community oriented policing Community oriented policing is intended for making the police force more involved in the community matters. Authorities have realized that the communication gap between police and public is wide at present. In order to make the police more acceptable to the public, it is necessary for the police force to approach the public directly rather than waiting for them. It is an accepted fact that most of the public reluctant in reporting their complaints in police stations because of the fear of bad treatment. Community policing is an answer to such complaints. ‘The focus of Community Oriented Policing is problem solving. Many calls to the police are not police related and are more effectively handled by other agencies. As the number of non-emergency calls decrease, benefits to citizens increase. The advantages of Community policing are; the officers are able to spend more time working with citizens to solve crime and disorder problems; With better police-citizen communication, officers can more effectively use and share crime information with the public; Officers who know both a community’s problems and its residents can link people with other public and private agencies that can help solve community concerns’ (Community oriented policing) Problem oriented policing Problem oriented policing is based on scanning, analysis, response and assessment. Problems are identified in the initial scanning process. The identified problems will be analysed with the help of interrogation or questioning in order to learn more things about the problem. After the questioning, the investigating officer will arrive at certain conclusions and a custom made response to the problem will be tried. Later the response will be evaluated to see if the problem was solved or reduced. (Problem oriented policing) For example, drug usage is a social problem, which can be addressed only with the help of the community in which it happens. If the community cooperates properly with the police, then it is easy for the police to take stern action against the offenders. Internal Affairs units “In police agencies throughout the United States, Internal Affairs units are responsible for helping to ensure police ethics and integrity within their respective agencies by investigating officer conduct, particularly citizen complaints of officer misconduct” (Perezler) Internal affairs unit is the back bone of community policing. Internal affairs units are responsible for formulating strategies to manage the community policing effectively. For that purpose these units will often conduct public trust building measures. Internal affairs units work on the principle that police is for helping the people; not for torturing the people. Social evils can be tackled only with the help and involvement of the public. Ethics training for police “Police professionals cannot simply think ethically; they must also act ethically. Ethics training provides tools for addressing ethical problems, but the police professional must have the courage to act” (Gleason) Police often interacting with conflicting beliefs, interests and values in the society. Because of such conflicts, every action taken by the police may be favourable to one party while the other may have complaints about the police’s decisions/actions. Ethical Training is essential for police forces to overcome such situations through taking better decisions. Public perceives police as the stewards of justice and hence every action will be scrutinized by public through the ethical lenses. Ethics training for police professionals helps them do the following: Readily recognize an ethical problem or dilemma, Identify various options to address the particular issue involved, Make a rational and ethically sound choice of which option to choose , Take prompt action based upon that choice, Accept responsibility for the outcome (Gleason) Conclusions Police is perceived as the security guards of justice by the public. Police functions always under pressure from the authorities and the public. Corruption and misconducts are global phenomenon in every aspect of human life and police force is also not an exception. Police often starts corruption through small activities which later attains fearful proportions. Politicians who control the police force often utilize them for executing their corrupted activities. The illegal nexus between police-politicians-criminals often create problems in the society. Community oriented policing and problem oriented policing are two strategies adopted by the authorities to close down the gap between police and the public. Internal affairs units in police force, controls the activities of community policing. Ethical training is a must for police officials to take proper decision s in conflicting situations. References 1. Police corruption and misconduct, 2009, Retrieved on July 8, 2009 from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Police+Corruption+and+Misconduct 2. Trautman, Neal Ph.D. Corruption To Increase Dramatically But A Role-Model Has Emerged Retrieved on July 8, 2009 from http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:jPKajIjmvuMJ:www.ethicsinstitute.com/pdf/Police%2520Corruption%2520Will%2520Increase%2520Dramtically.pdf+Police+corruption+in+US+past+researches&hl=en 3. Police Corruption and Misconduct - History, Contemporary Problems, 2009, Retrieved on July 8, 2009 from http://law.jrank.org/pages/9248/Police-Corruption-Misconduct.html#ixzz0LIInaoYM&C 4. The origin of Police,2006, Retrieved on July 8, 2009 from http://en.allexperts.com/q/Etymology-Meaning-Words-1474/origin-Police.htm 5. Gleason Tag, 2006, Ethics Training for Police, Retrieved on July 8, 2009 from http://policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=1054&issue_id=112006 6. Perez, Mark R., Internal Affairs Community of Practice: A Novel Approach to Advancing Community Policing, Retrieved on July 8, 2009 from http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/june_2008/internal_affairs.htm 7. Community oriented policing, Retrieved on July 8, 2009 from http://www.sandiego.gov/police/about/community.shtml 8. Problem oriented policing, Retrieved on July 8, 2009 from http://www.sandiego.gov/police/about/problem.shtml 9. Colonel McKetta Frank, 2000, Police, Politics, Corruption, Publisher: Mcclain Printing Co (May 15, 2000) Retrieved on July 8, 2009 from http://www.amazon.com/Police-Politics-Corruption-Colonel-McKetta/dp/0870126113/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246956805&sr=1-8 10. Prenzler Timothy,2009, Police Corruption: Preventing Misconduct and Maintaining Integrity (Advances in Police Theory and Practice), Publisher: CRC; 1 edition (March 27, 2009) Retrieved on July 8, 2009 from http://www.amazon.com/Police-Corruption-Preventing-Misconduct-Maintaining/dp/1420077961/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246956805&sr=1-6 11. Ivkovic Sanja Kutnjak, 2005, Fallen Blue Knights: Controlling Police Corruption, Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 27, 2005) Retrieved on July 8, 2009 from http://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Blue-Knights-Controlling-Corruption/dp/0195169166/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246956805&sr=1-2#reader Read More