FREE ESSAY ON POLICE CORRUPTION

POLICE CORRUPTION

The police officer stands at the top of the criminal justice system in a nation where
crime rates are high and where the demands for illegal goods and services are widespread.
These conditions create a situation in which the police officer is confronted with
opportunity to accept a large number of favors or grants. Police corruption occurs in
many forms and observers of police behavior agree that it falls into nine specific areas.
Drug related police corruption differs from other types of police corruption. In addition
to protecting criminals or ignoring their activities, officers involved in drug related
corruption were more likely to be involved in stealing drugs and/or money from drug
dealers, selling drugs, lying under oath about illegal searches, and other crimes.
Although not enough data was available upon which to base an estimate of the extent of
corruption, the amount of cases of police corruption proved that it was striking enough
to concern the public. The most commonly identified patterns of corruption involved small
groups of officers who protected and assisted each other in criminal activities. The
demands of the public and politicians, however, have caused an outrage and a fear that
open investigations and accusations of corruption will cause the problem of distrust in
the police to grow even greater.
Some police forces seem to have adopted a market-based approach to law enforcement.
Several drug related pedophiles and even murderers were believed to have walked out of
police headquarters "free-if- poorer" men (Klockars, p 76). In one small town in New
Mexico more than 30 suspected pedophiles were arrested in the span of 18 months but only
one case went to court. The other suspects were released after paying a hefty bail, or a
straightforward bribe. There is evidence that some police officials fleece tourists by
first planting drugs on them and then demanding bribes. Unbelievably, there are cases of
corruption that are far worse. Two have been charged with keeping a brothel, for which
they are alleged to have kidnapped a 15-year-old virgin. Another officer set up a
children's home, which he advertised as a charity. Charlie's Shelter in fact offered
young boys for sex. The local police record an unusual number of suicides and mysterious
incidents of heart failure. One detective failed to notice that a tourist, whom he
diagnosed as having been beaten to death, had been shot at point-blank range. Perhaps the
officer in question was distracted by the strain of managing his second-hand car
business. 
The people in charge of the police organizations are not blind to what is going on; some
are just too scared to admit that there are corrupt officers in their force. Others may
just really not know what is going on while the rest are either involved in the
corruption or speaking up and trying to stop the dishonesty. For example, Roy Penrose,
director-general of a new squad, warned the public that a small but significant number of
officers were known to be selling police information and aiding former officers and
criminals as to the whereabouts of safe havens where they could go unharmed in dealing in
their drug trades. He pledged to be ruthless in sacking corrupt and incompetent officers
(Welch, p 13).
James Wood, a former Supreme Court judge, was well suited to staying the distance with an
inquiry that many in the police force hoped would fizzle out soon after it began. Mr.
Wood chose as his chief weapon the power of public exposure-filmed evidence that revealed
police officers allegedly taking bribes or dealing in drugs. The commission's staff also
made use of roll over witnesses, policemen who admitted corruption and then agreed to
finger colleagues in return for immunity from prosecution. The star informer was Trevor
Haken, a former detective sergeant who helped to install miniature video cameras in the
dashboard of a police car and in the light fittings of a prostitute's home. The cameras
caught one senior policeman being handed wads of cash by another, allegedly his cut of a
drug deal, and a third policeman accepting drugs from a prostitute and asking her if she
could obtain child pornography. When television news programs showed the video clips, the
public was predictably outraged.
In the last months of his inquiry, Mr. Wood confronted allegations of a police cover-up
of child sex abuse. The chief casualty here was David Yeldham, a retired Supreme Court
judge, who gassed himself to death last November within hours of being interviewed by
commission officers. Mr. Yeldham denied being a pedophile, but admitted having homosexual
sex in public lavatories while he was still serving as a judge. Since his death, there
have been allegations that policemen had protected Mr. Yeldham from investigation, and
that the judicial system might therefore have been tainted.
But the high profile nature of recent corruption cases has kept the issue in the
headlines, while the increasing, and often successful, use of civil law to overturn
internal decisions on officers' behavior is also adding to the pressure for change. Due
to the great increase in the public demand to know what is going on and the great
political influence the needs of the public have, politicians began to crack down on this
issue in order to get positive attention. The politicians began to advertise the problem
once they found out it was on peoples minds and turned what was a low-key issue into a
nationwide interest; thus causing the public to demand knowledge of the facts and change
where it is needed.
The Police Federation reacted angrily to these demands and accused those of whom were
making a big deal of the issue of seriously undermining the civil and human rights of all
police officers (McCormack, p 243). It is currently balloting its 12,000 members on
whether they would support an independent body to investigate allegations of corruption.
Fred Broughton, the federation's chairman, said: The recent comments by the commissioner
[Sir Paul Condon] and several other chief constables that they cannot deal with
dishonesty and corruption in their forces is a time bomb which, as it ticks, is draining
away public confidence in our police service (Welch, p 13). These conflicting opinions
are exactly what is stopping the criminal justice system from cracking down and finally
doing something to put a stop to a problem that is not only occurring in our country but
in many others as well.
A few hypotheses as to why police corruption occurs are The Society-at-Large Explanation,
The Structural Explanation, and The Rotten Apple Explanation. The Society-at-Large
Explanation comes from O.W. Wilson. His hypotheses said that an acceptance of small
payoffs and bribes extend into more serious crimes. Wilson called this progression The
Slippery Slope hypotheses, that corruption begins with harmless intentions and leads,
that eventually lead into more serious crimes for more profit. The Structural Explanation
comes from Arthur Niederhoffer. His hypothesis is a step by step progress that results
from the differences of police officers beliefs, values, and norms. Police officers are
said to develop an attitude in which they view corruption as a game in which every person
is out to get a share. The Bad or Rotten Apple view is the most popular explanation of
police corruption. This says an honest department usually has a few bad officers who are
operating on their own. Corruption is the result of moral failure of just a few officers,
but it spreads, coming from a saying "one rotten apple spoils the rest of the barrel."
If the police are to deal effectively with the problem of police corruption, they must
recognize and understand what it is and how it happens. There are a number of factors
that contribute to police corruption, but the most important are: The Nature of Police
Work, The Police Officer's Clientele, Public Attitudes, and Leadership. The Nature of
Police Work puts police in an opportunity to have corruptive influences. The police
recognize that they cannot enforce all the laws equally and consider discretion in their
law enforcement role. By having this kind of role, it makes it easier to take particular
courses of action that may work to their own benefit. The Police Officer's Clientele
deals when police officers come into contact with many people who will do anything they
can to protect themselves from the consequences of their own misdeeds. They do not share
the same values of honor and integrity with the rest of society and they place their own
interests above all others. Some police officers develop personal relationships with
these people and may end up sharing their value system.
The public attitude may play a key role in creating police corruption. Citizens often
take the lead in initiating situations leading to corrupt behavior by a police officer.
The problem of police corruption cannot by solved unless citizens take a strong stand
against it and demonstrate to their appointed officials that they will not accept it.
Strong leadership in a police organization results in a more strong and healthy
environment. There is probably no more important influence on performance in a police
organization than its leadership. It is important that police leaders demonstrate their
own acts and words and their intolerance of police corruption.
Police corruption is an issue everywhere because people love money and power. Among the
commonly identified factors associated with drug related corruption were police officers
code of silence and cynicism about the criminal justice system, ineffective supervision
practices, and weaknesses in internal investigative units. Corruption in the police force
has long been recognized, and condemned, by politicians. Often it revolves around an
entire sum demanded of junior officers by their superiors as a sort of protection money.
In turn these low-ranking officers demand monies from the public in return for turning a
blind eye to infractions, real or invented. The code of silence among the police is what
holds this corruption together so well. What really seems to worry the authorities,
though, is the country's growing reputation as a haven for active and retired criminals
and as a place where the police force is less a solution to the crime problem than a part
of it.