Police Corruption Research Paper

The following essay will discuss the three different explanations for police corruption and examples to support them. To start, the Individual cause is justified as the Officers personal background characteristics. For example, it focuses on their personality, ethical and moral issues, leading to cases of officer corruption. The explanation emphasizes that police corruption occurs by placing a certain individual in the force that is already prone to be corrupt. Concluding,police corruption is considered to be the result of some morally defective officers, also known as the “Rotten method theory.” The theory suggests this could be caused by hiring methods,

inadequate training, and poor supervision which in term destroys the good characteristics of the officers, lastly leading to corruption or deviance. Some examples of the Individual explanation would be, a Police officer having a Criminal Record on his own background, making him already more prone to fall into
temptation or morally unacceptable behaviors/acts. Another situation would be a more in depth example, like The Miami River Cops Case. This notorious case in Florida involved 8 officers who murdered, laundered, and trafficked narcotics. But the issue was much bigger, more than 100 police officers who went corrupt were terminated due to the increase in crime rate due to the cocaine business. Which consequently led to recruitment and hiring of criminals as Officers.

Organizational deviance on the other hand, is used to describe “rotten bushels” or groups of Officers joining together to commit deviant acts.
These organizations create immoral Officers through poor training,indifferent recruiting,cover ups, and a fear dominated culture. Officers then face a perceived sense of victimization, which means they come into the job with a certain perspective on how it will be. Which can lead to the “blue curtain of secrecy.”Two examples of this method is the Rampart Scandal and The criminal justice system in Mexico. The Rampart Scandal was a gang unit of LA in which several cases were filed on police misconduct,the covering up of evidence, and many unprovoked shootings and beatings. Lastly, the situation in Mexico involves many corrupt officials leading to the distrust in civilians. Officials in Mexico are known to work with the drug cartels, take bribes, and act in unethical manners.Therefore, creating panic and distrust against locals due to being a fear dominated
culture.

The societal theories examine how criminal law, cultural conflict, and political culture influence police officers’ decisions to enforce certain laws and engage in corruption. Officers are told to enforce laws unless they have to enforce those laws against one. For example, an officer may be asked to enforce a law on a drunk driver, but be more lenient towards those who aren't really “criminal.” Another example would be, it's expected that if an Officer gets a domestic call and finds a quarrelling family arguing, the family would rather have them settle it privately, yet the Officers are expected to intervene in assault calls. We also ask police to take care of problems in the community or social. Like the homeless, even if they have to overuse their while doing it, this action can be referred to as Extra-Legal. If the community can support certain types of illegal activities by patronage, it shouldn’t come to a surprise that some Officers are able to distinguish non enforcement and even bribery to look away. As a result the citizens create the Police Department by its own needs and will overlook certain things if it doesn't affect them negatively.