Police Corruption in the United States - Essay Example

? Police Corruption in United s Introduction The issue of police corruption in the United s is becoming byzantine as the tendency of exploiting law for the sake to fulfill personal needs is fast becoming the practice of police officers. Today, the United States of America is encountering the horrible problem of police corruption and is looking for some dexterous ways to battle it out. A couple of institutions that are believed to root out corruption from police departments include the Internal Affairs department, community support or a strong leadership program. These institutions are under consideration as and concerned authorities believe that they can play their part in the prevention of police corruption. There has been a drastic rise in police corruption cases for the past couple of years. Unfortunately, one can easily find an article or a detailed investigative report every week in newspaper regarding a police officer who got caught red-handed, practicing corrupt activities. These evil police officers are enjoying being a part of wicked activities such as receiving money illegally from the distributors of cocaine. The illegal trade of cocaine has played a massive role in giving rise to police corruption. A good number of police officers are working with such corrupt groups which are indulged in stealing money from the cocaine dealers and distributors. These police officers were apprehended from cities such as New Orleans, New York, Washington, Los Angeles and many other cities (Scaramella, 2011, p.252). Police corruption can be studied focusing on two basic kinds of corruption; external corruption and internal corruption. However, external corruption is believed to trigger the internal forces too to involve in illegal activities and thus give boost to the police corruption. This is the reason why the external corruption has gained instant attention by the concerned authorities who are analyzing the causes of this kind of corruption to derive out the solutions to abort police corruption. Police corruption in a metropolitan city like New York is fast becoming the source of trouble for organizations which are assigned the task of battling out the fierce rise in police corruption. A number of articles have been published in New York Times, indicating the causes of police corruption and its drastic consequences (Hopson, 2012, p.224). While analyzing the causes of police corruption, the focus must lie with gaining the knowledge as to why corruption happens and how the police officers become addicted to corrupt activities to earn ill-gotten gains. Body It goes without saying that police corruption involves ill-usage of the authority by the respected police personnel who become habitual of indulging in corrupt activities to satisfy their needs. To carry out a certain corrupt act, three integral elements must play their part. These three elements include the manhandling of authority, manhandling of official cubage and manhandling of personal achievements (Sarre, 2005, p.302). The attainment of power is inkling that you are bombarded with great responsibilities. However, it is seen that power often becomes a source to corrupt the pure souls. This can be an excuse that can be presented to the ordinary masses that tend to shout out loud if they come across any story related to police corruption. People easily lay their faith in the police officers, but the corruption stories of police officers certainly afflict them with pain. It seems as if police corruption has become indigenous within the police departments. A detailed study on police corruption was carried out and published in a book known as Sherman (Dempsey, 2013). The book focuses on external and internal police corruption and indicates that external corruption involves contacts which are made between the police and public while internal corruption concerns relationship among the police officers, working in a certain police department. The external corruption involves some impish activities that take place between the police officers and an ordinary person. Payments made by a person to a police officer to conceal their criminal acts are one of those terrible activities that are helping this form of corruption reach its zenith. Some other activities include payments made to the corrupt police officers by people who themselves are involved in illegal sources of earning money. A good amount of money is bestowed upon the police officers by the corrupt masses under the tag of courtesy discounts. The same book revealed that a massive number of police officers enjoy being a part of corrupt activities such as exhortation of narcotics and money. Hence, these police officers are not only abusing the authority given to them, but are also assisting the drug violators in breaching the laws and carry out illegal activities. Not only this, but the police officers have terribly been addicted to the handsome amount of bribes given to them by the drug violators who are on the go to earn illegally through the badger game. Feeling of awe can struck you upon knowing that many of these corrupt police officers are also using narcotics fearlessly. Almost half a dozen major police corruption scams have been reported in the city of New York within a century. In the year 1972, Knapp Commission revealed some alleged corruption stories of the police officers (Berg, 1999, p.362). The investigation, carried out by the Knapp Commission, was based on a two year study and was presented to the New York Police Department. The investigation report highlighted the fact that incidents of bribery are pretty much high among the various police departments. The investigation forced the concerned authorities to take rapid action and as a result, a good number of police officers were fired from their jobs while the rest were prosecuted. Drastic changes were brought about in the form of restructuring of rules for the police officers. Strict rules were designed to prevent police corruption which was a clear warning for the police officers to refrain from any corrupt act. Despite these strict rules, the New York City was made to come to a standstill upon revelation of a major corruption story in the year 1992. Five police officers were apprehended due to drug trafficking charges and Michael Dowd was thought to be the ring leader (Ivkovic?, 2005, p.140). Dowd was basically a drug dealer who was involved in fierce activities such as attaining cash that was taken under custody during drug raids. He was also involved in robbery and used to rob the drug dealers for the sake to earn money through the sale of drugs, gained by the drug dealers (Garner, 2003, P.91). Dowd then formed a gang of 15 police officers in Brooklyn to further enjoy his corrupt activities. The gang was given the task to rob the drug dealers on a frequent basis. Dowd became extremely rich though these ill-gotten gains. With earnings of about $400 per week, Dowd still managed to buy couple of sub-urban homes and surprisingly authorities did not show any reservations about his rich status. A wave of restlessness ran across the country as special place was given to this story by the major newspapers of United States. Media as well as the politicians expressed solemn concerns over this issue and reiterated that the police are accountable to the nation for all their actions. After the arrest of Michael Dowd, the Knap commission extended its investigation and once again presented a comprehensive report on the corrupt activities of police. It was reported that the police officers were not only engaged in bribery, but they also took huge payments from prostitutes too. The chief counsel of the Knapp Commission made a shocking revelation that the police officers also deliberately hide the criminal activities of the most wanted criminals. Today, many critics believe that there is a marked decline in persuasive corruption, but at the cost of massive increase in individual corruption examples. Over 30 police officers were arrested upon confirmation of money extortion charges in Philadelphia (Crank, 2010, p.227). Abundance of under-trained, younger officers in the police departments is believed to be another source of rise in police corruption cases. A corruption scam in Miami was the outcome of influx of greater number of younger officers. In the mid of 1980’s, about 10% of the police in Miami were either sent to prison or fired (Lersch, 2001). All these police officers were involved in robbery and murder. These police officers had robbed the cocaine smugglers, killed many of them and sold the drugs obtained from these smugglers. The former Miami chief police officer, Perry Anderson, admitted that it was due to the carefree and defensive attitude of the senior police officers who recruited some corrupt souls in the different police departments. He also added that many of the senior members of the civil service board made a triumphant attempt of saving the corrupt police officers against whom no enough evidence was available. He revealed that he had tried his best to sack more than 20 people with blemished badges, but he failed as they were covered by senior police officers. After the disclosure of the Knapp Commission, New York City police’s department internal affairs played a major role in battling out police corruption. Critics believe that the above mentioned department played the most effective role in stalking the corrupt police officers. In one interview in the year 1993, Joseph Trimboli, a police sergeant, revealed to the Mollen Commission that he was bogged down by the high-ranked officers upon rooting out the corrupt cops including Dowd (Lyman, 2012, p.209). However, this time around Raymond Kelly, the police commissioner of New York, took a brave step of bringing few positive changes in the internal affairs department of police. He gave special attention towards improvement of field investigations and worked to build a better coordinated team of investigation. Critics believe that these changes did not help the cause of the Knapp commission and other concerned authorities who were working hard to root out corruption. Later, every single police officer was encouraged to act as a whistle blower and report any kind of corrupt activity to the police department. However, the police officers found it an uphill task to keep an eye on their surrounding and report illegal activities. Many senior police officers insisted that none of the cops were interested in reporting down the activities of their fellow cop. It was argued that no police officer would play the role of a whistle blower. Even if any of them tries to do so, he may not find anyone who would lend his ears to him to report the wrong-doings. Undoubtedly, police corruption and all the related grave issues require a great deal of attention and needs to be sorted out as quickly as possible. Desperate steps have been taken by the police departments to control police corruption. This includes increasing salaries, developing strict policies and tough eligibility criteria (Garner,, 2003, p.277). It is also declared that any person, who is interested to be a part of certain police department, needs to be highly educated. He also has to undergo tough training sessions in order to become a highly efficient police officer. Unfortunately, corruption continues to occupy the police departments despite the implementation of these steps. Nevertheless, the issue of corruption cannot, in any way, be ignored. It is important to govern the police departments with the help of stringently enforced rules and regulations. Though, corruption might not be completely eradicated with the help of some strict rules, but it surely can be limited. Police corruption can be highly restricted with the help of the internal divisions of the police departments. Senior police officers can also facilitate the cause by keeping an eye on the juniors (Dempsey, 2012). It is absolutely not possible to control the causes of corruption at the departmental level as it requires a strong leadership organization. It is important that the top-ranked officers sincerely take oath to refrain from all kinds of corrupt activities and resolute to take stern action against all forms of corruption. The top-ranked officer must not adopt a lineant attitude towards the junior officers and guard their activities strictly. Thus, corruption in any shape must not be tolerated. A good way of controlling police corruption is to design absolute and stern rules for the police training academies (Barak, 2007, p.510). Corruption is believed to start from the level of academies where the non-serious attitudes of much younger cops makes it easy for them to be attracted towards corrupt activities. These corrupt activities often show these young police officers, some illegal ways to make quick money. Therefore, it is important that the police agencies make the internal environment of the academies very organized and strict. Learning ethical behavior and developing a modest persona must be taught to the police officers. This kind of education must be a part of the training course of the cops. It is important that every police department must own an Internal Affairs cell to investigate the activities of every cop. Such a cell should be assigned the task to guide the cops and bring them into conformity with the laws. This cell must also exercise its complete power over the police officers by restricting their outdoor activities and governing their conduct. An agency, however, is required to govern this cell and deal with any corruption issue that occurs in the Internal Affairs cell. It was in the year 1992, when a corruption scam hit the New York police department (Thomas, 2011). Conclusion The role of local communities in eradicating police corruption is also very important. The investigative departments can only exercise their authority to battle out corruption, but the support of the communities can do wonders for them and for the collective good of the police. The public must be educated by about the affects of police corruption on the society. They should be highly encouraged to play their role in fighting the mess of police corruption. The communities have already been given a free hand to establish investigative bodies to keep a watchful eye on the police agencies. Collective efforts are required to eradicate corruption for the betterment of every society (Lasley, 2013, P.2). The law enforcement communities desperately require the assistance of the common masses to clean the police departments from filthy souls. Police are given excessive powers to control the menace of crimes and injustice. However, when corrupt souls crept into the police agencies and spoil the true cause of the police, the societies are drastically affected. It is important to realize that police corruption can never be eradicated completely. However, changes in the subcultures of various police departments can help the cause. Monitoring the activities of cops, not only at the lower level, but also at the top level is necessary in order to recognize the big fishes who are involved in corrupt activities. History shows that corruption was boosted due to the support of top-ranked officers who not only earned great amount of illegal money, but also give birth to a number of criminal activities in the society (Tonry, 2011, P.616). Hence, it is clear that police corruption leads in the enhancement of crimes. No organized criminal activity can take place until there is manhandling of authority in the police agencies or departments. If the law enforcing agencies including the police, starts working honestly, there is no doubt that the criminals would find it hard to survive in a society where honesty and truthfulness rules supreme. References Barak, G. (2007). Battleground: criminal justice. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. Berg, B. L. (1999). Policing in modern society. Boston, Mass.: Butterworth Heinemann. Crank, J. P., & Caldero, M. A. (2010). Police ethics: the corruption of noble cause (3rd ed.). Cincinnati: Anderson Pub.. Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. S. (2013). Police (2012-2013 student ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning. Garner, G. W. (2003). Common sense police supervision: practical tips for the first-line leader (3rd ed.). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher. Hopson, J. (2012). Breaking the blue wall: one man's war against police corruption. Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press. IvkovicI, S. (2005). Fallen blue knights: controlling police corruption. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lyman, M. D. (2011). Drugs in society: causes, concepts and control (6th ed.). Cincinnati, Ohio: Anderson ;. Sarre, R., Das, D. K., & Albrecht, H. (2005). Policing corruption: international perspectives. Lanham: Lexington Books. Scaramella, G. L., Cox, S. M., & McCamey, W. (2011). Introduction to policing. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. Lersch, K. M. (2001). 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