Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines “slippery slope” as a course of action that seems to lead inevitably to from one action or result to another unintended consequence (Merriem-Webster, 2013). The “slippery slope” can refer to almost every walk of live but here it is being applied to law enforcement and accepting gratuities. Here it is referring to police officers accepting what may seem to be harmless gratuities which may later put the officer in a position where their ethics are called into question. There are several hypotheses that can be applied to analyze police corruption in addition to the slippery slope hypothesis. Three of…
Police corruption has plagued this country for decades. Whether it's done out of need or greed, it affects every community and has tarnished the image of police departments across the country. Community relations are a vital part of police work and without it officers have a hard time doing their job. Corruption causes distrust and prevents officer from getting cooperation from the public. Police corruption has been glorified and documented in several movies throughout the years. It has been shown in old westerns with crooked sheriffs to more recent movies where corruption is seen from the lowest officer to the highest government officials. The reasoning for the corruption varies from character to character, however the end result is usually the same; either the officer pays or those around him do.…
Criminal justice can be defined as the upholding of social control, deterring crime, and punishing those who violate laws with criminal penalties or with rehabilitation efforts. Police corruption has had a sharp increase in the last decade with no indication of this trend being reversed, while some experts believe that we should work together in order to solve this problem there are others who say this problem will never cease so why even bother. Regardless of one’s point of view, it is very clear that there are some major police corruption issues that need correction.…
One example of corruption from an administrator occurred in 2011, when Chief of Police Daniel Saylor of Windermere, Florida, allegedly had interfered with an investigation concerning the apparent rape of a minor. The interference into the investigation was done to protect one of his friends. The Chief of Police was arrested on felony charges of official misconduct. The man that he was trying to protect was accused of sexual battery of a minor under 12, which is a capital offense. He was likewise charged with lewd actions upon a minor, which is a third-degree felony. A thorough investigation was directed to establish that Chief of Police Saylor had ended the examination of his friend who was being charged with sexual battery of a youngster,…
The New York City police department holds the title of the oldest force in the United States. New York City’s finest have always been in the spot light and have received much well deserved fame and praise through the years. Unfortunately, many times it has been overshadowed with sorrow due to the corrupt practices that stem back to its’ inception.…
Police corruption has been around since there has been police. Two of the key elements of police corruption is misuse of authority and personal gain (Walker & Katz, 2011, p. 425). There are many types of corruption in a police department. First, gratuities in which are the most common form, whether you are taking free food from the gas station or a discount or your dry cleaning this can be considered as a form corruption. Some police departments prohibit gratuity and some do not. You have isolated acts that happen while a police officer is performing their duties, such as when a police officer takes money to protect a drug headquarters, which is called a bribe. There are lower forms of bribes where police take money from people to not write traffic summons and then there higher forms of bribes where police sell material from criminal cases. Third, you have theft and burglary which is a very serious form of corruption. Stealing money and property from drunken people is theft. There are also police officers that steal property from the police department’s property room. Internal corruption is when a police officer must bargain the best assignments or promotion with bribes.…
Police corruption seems to be a problem in the United States as well as most of the world. The simplest explanation why corruption exists is that the police officers are human beings and as such are prone to give in to temptation. Another widely held opinion is that the officers don’t get enough pay. No matter what are the reasons police corruption is abuse of authority and power; it is also betraying to the public trust. The researches proved that in socioeconomic disadvantage countries the percentage of corruption is higher. Countries like Zealand, Denmark, Finland and Canada has very few cases of corruption (pg. 176). Then we have countries like Afghanistan, Hungary and Pakistan where the corruption level is very high. According to…
In the early 1990’s police brutality had become common; police officers abused their powers and became brutal when dealing with offenders and even non-offenders. One infamous example of such brutality occurred in 1992 in Los Angeles when a black man named Rodney King was violently beat by five officers for being “black.” The five officers repeatedly struck King as a few other officers stood by not paying any attention to the situation near by. Two of the five officers were later acquitted which angered the black and Latino community around the world as did the videotape of the incident. This incident did however put more attention and awareness on the issue of police brutality.…
The movie I chose was “Serpico.” The setting of the movie begins with Frank Serpico the main character graduating from the Police Academy, He is determined to be a “good” cop and represent everything that the image of a law enforcer is meant to be. However, where there is bad there is good and the police force is no exception. No matter where Serpico goes Police Corruption seems to be all around and his morals are challenged time and time again. He however wants to change this and break down on Police Corruption, but of course with every department being corrupt instead of making it better for himself he is slowly digging his grave. The movie shows that corruption in the police department is very common and those whom are part of will do anything for it not to be uncovered even at the cost of losing officers.…
Corruption establishes largely because of a police culture that exalts loyalty over integrity. Armao & Cornfeld (1994) suggest that honest officers are silenced by their fear of ``ratting'' on another cop no matter how grave the crime. Corruption is not uncommon for those officers who remain undercover; in fact, it is an easier gateway to fall custom to the "bad apples". Corruption as defined by Roebuck and Barker (1974) as any form of ‘deviant, dishonest, improper, unethical or criminal behavior by a police officer. Police departments take pride in their progressions or achievements, therefore in response to corruption, they avoid uncovering it. Grant (2002) goes on to maintain the fact that not only do the en-suing scandals embarrass the…
3. Perito, D. B. (2011, November). Police Corruption: What Past Scandals Teach Us About Current Challenges. Retrieved from United States Institute of Peace: http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/resources/SR%20294.pdf…
Police corruption is a problem that has and will continue to affect us all, whether we are civilian or law enforcement officers. An examination of any newspapers or police-related publications on any given day will have an article about an officer that got busted committing some kind of illegal act. Since its beginnings, many aspects of it have changed, however, a lot of it remains and it seems to just keep growing. Even though being a policeman is one of the most commendable and honorable professions in society, there have been certain instances that demonstrate misconduct and corruption in terms of unethical violence, illegal drug abuse, bribery and unjustified arrests.…
In the world ran by the government, we as citizen believe and trust in our law enforcement to serve and protect us as a whole. But, that is not always the case when our men in blue abuse their authority for personal gain and power. With police misconduct getting more and more public it is proving that innocent people are being convicted of crimes they did not commit. How can we trust our law enforcement anymore with all this corruption? I think it all boils down to their pride and the power of authority that the law enforcements have against us. It makes police think they can commit these offences without any reproductions.…
Police corruption is when law enforcement abuse their power for either their own personal gain or some other kind of gain like departmental or political gain. It is when they break the very laws and ordinances they are supposed to be upholding and enforcing. It is a very broad term that covers falsifying evidence, soliciting or accepting bribes, disregarding criminal behavior they know is taking place and all sorts of other forms of misconduct. Police corruption dates back to the 1830s when organized police departments first started to form in the U.S. From the 1830s to the 1930s was known as the “political era.” This was a period when political groups had a major impact on police departments and corruption among police officers ran rampant. Influential people in local government would establish the police…
Police corruption can be dated back to the 1890’s. This is still a major problem with many police agencies as of today. There are some cases where the officers are being paid off by the drug dealers. Police corruption can be resolved by tighten supervision, increasing the rules and by the amount of paperwork.…