Corruption and Philadelphia Police Department: An Analysis - Coursework Example

Corruption and Philadelphia Police Department: An Analysis Introduction: Police department in every country, in fact in every or is the key behind the stable situation. An effective and proactive police department is always an asset for any government to keep the condition under control, make it sure that the rate of illegal activities are also very less in the area. An effective police department is helpful to keep the city or state in a safe condition, make it a peaceful one for the citizens to enjoy their daily life. But along with the effective performance of the police department in almost every cities/countries there are different kinds of other corruption also present in the police department. These corruptions are in the form of using the power that police have to control the crowd or any kind of incident, asking for extra facilities or benefit from the citizens while serving their duties, unnecessary arrest or firing, false cases etc. In this paper the main focus is to analyze the corruption in the police department in the city of Philadelphia in various aspects like corruption, over use of power, unnecessary arrest etc. False Arrest: In every country false arrest is one of the most common misconduct of the police department across the globe. False arrest is a kind of misconduct that is very common in Philadelphia police department. Over the year many police officer are involved in this kind of incidents. False arrests in some cases are true mistakes by the system but far too many others resultant from malevolentmisbehavior – produce hundreds of wrongful sentences annually in various parts of America, including persons who get death penalty in some cases as well. Theunfairness of false arrests excessively impacts persons of black color mainly the Afro-Americans in different parts of the USA. In Philadelphia as well, some of the judges surprisingly cheer and assist the malevolent practice of false arrests. One of such incident was the arrest of an innocent person Kenneth Woods in charge of a high speed accident. The Philadelphia police authority arrests him in front of media on account of a high speed car accident, held responsible killing of a college student. But hours after that the cops back down, admitting they detained the wrong man. It was more odd looking because soon after arresting him and convicting him with a third degree murder charge, the original culprit Donny Sayers – telephoned police, in factadmitting to his crimes and clearing Woods of any involvement in that incident. (Washington, 2010). More surprisingly, in case of above incident before the original culprit surrender himself the police authority was convinced about the proves which they had with them such as “fingerprint evidence, a cell phone photo and supposedly positive identification by the policeman who had pursued the SUV immediately before the fatal crash.”. (Washington, 2010). Few days later there was also news of incident that police establishments settled to pay two brothers $300,000 for their wrong drug arrest in 2008. As Washington discussed in his analysis, False arrests set up an costly, destructive rot in the criminal justice system that designated officials oversee largely mainly due to the fact that, many of them fear being branded as “soft on crime” – an ironic position, subsequently false arrests resultant in to being soft-on-criminals by permitting the real culprits to remain at-large in the society. From an overall view, in Philadelphia, the false arrest are sometimes taken place to keep the anger of the crowd in check, to show off the fact that the police department is working at their best to resolve the issues and the state of protection of the common people in the society are in the safe hand. But unfortunately sometimes common people got in to trouble as without doing anything wrong they caught in the trap of the police department in the city. Use of Excess Police Force: Another key part associated with the wrong doing of the police force in different parts of the world is excessive use of force in unnecessary condition. Generally large police force is required when there are any kinds of mass movement or gathering in any city against the ruling authority on certain issues. Government used to take help of the police department t keep the crowd in check. But that does not mean that in every instance large force is necessary. In Philadelphia there are several instances where it has been proved that the use of police force was excessive, more than what was required in the scenario. This as a result created several mishaps and also misconducts among the police departments. Unnecessary use of Power: One another case of wrong doing among the police department is the wrong use of the power. In the month of March, 2013 4 individuals file a case against the police officer of Philadelphia police accusing him to misuse his power. The incident was about the unsafe driving of a police officer at midnight in a white Philadelphia Police Department SUV. One of the 4 members asked the official to stop and confront him as they are asking him to obey the rule. But the police officer misbehaves with all 4 of them on the road, physically abuse them and also threaten them when they tried to record his misbehavior in the mobile phone. In their complain 4 of the citizen accused the office to misuse his force, grabbing on of the individual, throwing him up against the patrol car and cuffing him. They also pointed out the fact that while arresting one individual, the police officer charged him of public intoxication,” but never took him to a police quarter. They also mentioned that all of them are still suffering from “fear, horror and loss of liberty” and were forced to endure “physical pain and horrible mental anguish.”(Wigglesworth, 2013). From the analysis of above incident it is very clear that some of the police official sometimes used to break law by their own activities and when any common people asked them the question they get angry and want to use the power of being in the police department to keep the mouth of others shut. It is a very serious case of wrongdoing among the police department mainly in Philadelphia among other cities in the USA. The above incident clearly pointed out the actions and motivation of the officer, along with the district’s sergeant and captain’s own responsibility about the fact. Wigglesworth in his review also mentioned the fact that the head of the department pointed out the concern they used to have regarding this kind of behaviors from few of the officials. In his word “this kind of incidents are shocking, without conscious regard or due care for plaintiffs” and showed “such wanton and reckless disregard of the consequences as to show defendants’ deliberate indifference to the danger of harm and injury.” (Wigglesworth, 2013) From the analysis of the above incidents it can be stated that to some extent it is also the mistake of the Philadelphia police department as well. In general they used to follow a practice where the police officers have the power to conduct any kind of questioning,make stops without proper suspicion and to use irrational and excessive force in various cases. Wigglesworth (2010) in his review mentioned that the city of Philadelphia has maintained “an inadequate review of instances of misconduct by the policemen in various instances, abuse of police powers or violations of citizens’ rights by a police officer in the defense system of the city.” According to his analysis the present system has failed to recognize and also act accordingly against the examples of exploitation of police powers or defilements of citizens’ rights by police officers to ensure that the number of instances gets reduced over the due course of time. Misbehavior of the Police Officials: In the city of Philadelphia there are several instance of the misbehavior of the police officials against the people of the city. One such incident took place in the City when two police officials in search of a suspected criminal reached to his home. His 53 years old grandmother told them that she hadno clue about her grandson and to the surprise of all, after 10 minutes those 2 policemen handcuffed her and took her with them in the charge of keeping banned substances. It was the incident of 1991. After 3 years the old lady was released from the prison and the truth that came out was shocking for all. The police officer who arrested her put that banned substances in her room and when it was asked he replied that the main target was her grandson. The most disturbing fact was the woman was an Afro-American. White (1999) in his analysis mentioned the fact that during a time period of 4 years, from 1988-1991 4 policemen namely John Baird, Thomas DeGovanni, Thomas Ryan, James Ryan, and Steven Brown was involved in earning $100000 from stolen drugs in the city of Philadelphia. (White, 199). This was also a clear indication of breaching trust that the common people used to have on the police officials. Counteracting and Preventing Corruption: In every city, every country, department of police is always look to make it sure that there is no corruption in the police department. To prevent the corruption and also to make the police department a fare one following process can be adopted as discussed by White in his writing. If we analyze the above incidents then it is very clear that in order to prevent the corruption one must give a real thought in 3 departments of the police force namely: officer training, personal characters, and the incentives program. First of all officer training is the most important and basic part of making the police department a corrupt free unit. All the police officer are human and it is impossible that every officer has a good character, So while screening the police officer one must give special emphasis ti select those with good character. It is very clear from the analysis that “stricter screening methods need to be implemented to decrease the chance that a potential hire will become corrupt. Once any individual has successfully able to clear all the integrity obstacle, then it is more likely that he will be honest. “. (White, 1999). But as all the policemen are human so there is still little exception despite strict screening process. Another key part associated with the police work is promoting the ethics among the on duty officer. The department must appreciatethe fact that the citizens of any country always consider the police to be ethical and a break of that trust is unjust for them.Therefore it is not concrete to act dishonestly as if by any chance any police officer or group of policemen lose faith in the eye of common men then it is very hard for rest of the department to restore the faith. A misconduct of one officer can downgrade the status of entire group. (White, 1999). Another way to rectify the act of the police official is by announcing reward program for the police officials in the city. The Incentive Programis a way by which head authorities can stop the down flow of the smuggled goodsto sub-departments which lacks in terms of monetary and other facilities. According to White, it not only gives officers more inducement to not get involved in wrongdoing or misuse their power but also helps the department to ensure that all the officers from top to bottom are working with their hurt out to make the city crime and hassle free. “When corrupt police officers see that the incentive is zero, then there is no incentive for planting evidence”. (White, 2013). Apart from the above processes, community training, drug rehabilitation hospitals, crime intervention and crime prevention programs-all can be considered as ways to reduce the degree of crime among the police department in the city. References 1. Washington L. (2010); False Arrests, Gratuitous Police Violence, False Testimony Wrack US Justice System;Truth Out; Retrieved on 28.2.2014 from http://vruz.tumblr.com/post/1313455366/false-arrests-gratuitous-police-violence-false 2. White A. S. (1999), Controlling Police Corruption; Poverty & Prejudice: Paradoxes of U.S. Drug Policies: Edge; Retrieved on 28.2.2014 from https://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/paradox/hwhite.html 3. Wigglesworth A. (2013), $1m suit against Philly police alleges ‘conscience-shocking’ brutality; Metro.US;Retrieved on 28.2.2014 from http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/news/2013/05/01/1m-suit-against-philly-police-alleges-conscience-shocking-brutality/ Read More