Reducing Police Corruption and Violation of Crime - Essay Example

? Police Corruption al Affiliation Police Corruption Police corruption refers to any unlawful conduct by the police officers which involves the use of professional authority for individual, group or organizational benefit. The postulation that police corruption is immoral or an issue of contention is often not paid attention to in many a debate. This can be attributed to the fact that the word ‘corruption’ is not actually neutral. This implies that anything said to be corrupt is just bad and cannot be tolerated. As a result people tend to pay les attention to what is preferred as corrupt action. Hence police corruption has been viewed as a type of subculture. One form of police corruption is the petitioning for and receiving bribes in return for not reporting a crime or any illegal activity as suggested by Cole and Smith (2007. Other form may include a police officer breaking the police code of conduct so as to prevent conviction of a suspect, for instance via the use of untrustworthy evidence. In most major cities like in the cities of the United States, there are sections of internal affairs whose work is to investigate police officers who have been suspected of corrupt actions. For instance in the United States there is the Knapp Commission which inspected issues of police corruption in the New York city in the 1970’s. There are various sorts of police corruption acts; one is the corruption of authority where police officers are given free items by the suspects. Secondly, there is the act of opportunistic theft from the suspects and the victims of a criminal act. The other act of corruption is the kickbacks which refer to receiving payment through referring individuals to other businesses. Shakedowns are other acts of corruption which refer to receiving bribes instead of pursuing a crime. Another corrupt act is a police officer protecting illegal activity by individual and accepting payments in return from the individual involved. Fixing is another corrupt crime which involves the police officer withholding evidence on a crime or not presenting himself or herself in court during the judicial hearing for favor of the suspect. Another act of corruption is the internal payoff whereby prerogatives of the law enforcing organizations for instance holidays are sold and bought. The other sort of police corruption is where the police officers engage in the direct criminal activities. Last but not the least is the frame-up sort of police corruption where the police officer ads or removes information about suspects evidence in his/her favor. In American policing some forms of police corruption can be a norm as opposed to exception. However despite the form of police corruption it might be, police corruption is illegal and those who practice it should face the law. Incarceration Police corruption can be a major threat to the issue of incarceration. As a result reducing police corruption can reduce incarceration. This is due to the fact that if police officers fail to receive bribes many criminals will reduce their criminal acts hence reduced imprisonment. Reducing or ending police corruption also can reduce the period of imprisonment of some criminals according to Kenney (1999). This is due to the fact that some police officers can get corrupted by others so that they can keep criminals behind bars for a long time. In case where police can not be bribed by those who report criminal acts to imprison the suspects then incarceration is likely to reduce. For instance officials in New Orleans who work in conjunction with the FBI have been able to reduce cases of police corruption which have also reduced incarceration and homicides. Police corruption however, can reduces rate of incarceration in that those who involved in criminal acts can chose bribe the police so they can minimize their cases hence less imprisonment period. Police corruption can increase ones incarceration due to the fact they are not able to bribe in order to reduce period of imprisonment. Recidivism Reducing police corruption also reduces rate of recidivism in different ways. For instance in a case where those involved in this case are not able to bribe the police to protect them they head up stopping to engage in such cases. The State Bureau of investigation in the city of North Carolina made important alterations in police administration which reduced corruption in issues of recidivism. These included ensuring the police to involve themselves in explicit investigation of the convicted sex offenders as suggested by Boyne (1990). As a result the city experienced a decreased rate of recidivism. This was also heightened by the fact that the police were forced to provide status of the offenders and thus they could not be brined to hide this. Violation of Crime For over twenty years ago, the citizens of the United States had lost their trust on the police ability to control criminal acts and other forms of disorder in the cities. However the police officers had been reluctant since there was rise in crime in the cities but by the late 1980’s there appeared to be increasing incidences of violent crime. This can be attributed to the established anti-crime measures in the United States including police corruption. The new legislations introduced by the administration of President Clinton lead to strong investment in the exercise of law by the police without corruption. According to Dempsey and Forst (2011), the 1994 crime bill also reduced incidences of violent crime as placed controls on the circulation of firearms and thus made it easier for police to administer security without corruption. Police corruption also reduces violent crime in that they try to administer protection in order to protect their unlawful acts. Police officers also use the funds gained from corruption to respond to most of the community needs. For instance a police officer may get a bribe from a community member so that they can act on their issue. Therefore this helps reduce incidences of violent crime. However, this might also be disadvantageous in that the police might fail to take a serious case because the petitioner is financially unable to bribe. Police corrupt acts have also reduced violent crimes in that, those engaged in that activities may not have much to bribe the tight police security hence they are forced to abandon their violent criminal acts. This is due to the strong community policing in the cities of the United States. Reducing police corruption is major step towards reducing violent crimes due to the fact that police will eliminate all criminals without obstruction. Cases of Police Corruption Most of the police cases of corruption in the United States are related to the issue of drug dealing. For instance, one highly exploded charge was associated with one police officer named Michael Kalanz. He had kept $ 1 million dollars in his police locker of which federal investigators argued was a drug cartel money bribe. Another police officer Michael Dowd was later arrested with other police on trafficking cocaine in Suffolk County Long Island according to Champion (2001). Such cases of police corruption have led to them losing their employed and getting heavily fined. Noble Cause Noble cause corruption refers to a form of corruption where the police officers infringe their profession’s legal and ethical codes in order to pursue what benefits the whole society. However noble cause may cause a problem since it may serve the society for short term and it always leads the breaching of civil liberties hence punishment of the innocent in the community. The most dangerous aspect of noble cause as corruption is that police officers might be forced to bend the law. This results to them acting in ways which are destructive to the public and also illegal as they try to guarantee a conviction. Noble cause is thus a corruption since it is note done according to against legal terms. It can result from a situation where the police officers are forced to produce many arrests and citation. An example where noble cause is a corruption is in a case where the police officers formulate an evidence to ensure conviction of a suspect without sufficient evidence. As a result noble cause is a type of corruption the good ends are achieved through dirty means according to Caldero and Crank (2010). This is because e to achieve good ends urgently and unquestionably well the only means its through dirty means. In some cases the tough mindedness of the police officers makes them act in the dirty means in order to fulfill their good ends hence the noble cause. Therefore one can describe noble cause as obligation to do something to those perceived to be bad people. It is a police ethnic based on ends and can be corrupted when officers’ infringe the legal for individually held moral issues. There are various types if noble cause corruption and they include perjury which refers to false swearing. There is planting of evidence whereby the police officers create their own evidence on a suspect without the suspect’s consent to have done so. It also involves denial of basic rights of the convicted for instance denial to defend themselves. The last is whereby police officers apply assaults and pressure on the suspects so as to make them confess what they might not have engaged. Noble cause is thus a type of corruption where the innocent are most likely to suffer as the police seek the bad in the society. References Boyne, R. (1990). Foucault and Derrida: the other side of reason. London: Routledge Caldero, M. & Crank,J. (2010). Police Ethics: The Corruption of Noble Cause. Amsterdam: Elsevier Champion,D. (2001). Police misconduct in America: a reference handbook. California : ABC-CLIO, Cole, G. & Smith, C. (2007). Criminal Justice in America. Auckland: Cengage Learning. Dempsey,J. & Forst, L. (2011). An Introduction to Policing. Auckland: Cengage Learning, Kenney,D.J. (1999). Police and policing: contemporary issues. New Jersey: Greenwood Publishing Group . Read More