Police Deviancy And Corruption

Deviancy and corruption within police organizations has influenced public’s negative perceptions and attitudes, as well as negatively impact the social relationship between the two groups. Policing in America, was established to maintain social order by enforcing rules and laws, protecting citizens, and taking appropriate action to ensure safety and justice. Police officers are expected to exercise “power and authority” while preserving moral character, but it is not always the case. Individual morale is closely examined when police recruits are seeking a position with a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency. As mentioned by the author Kappeler, recruits are evaluated based on their ability to adapt to the 'code of practices' used
by veteran or lateral officers. Police officer must maintain discretion and take the best action of dealing with calls of crime to ensure compliance of policy, judgement, and proper action.
Deviant behavior engaged by police officers that involve crimes such as premeditated theft, bribery, and extortion are behaviors that are mostly difficult to detect because of secrecy of the 'code',' protects officers’ corruption. According to Police and Society, “Socialization of recruits consists of inducting them into the “common “core. This occurs on two levels: the formal, or membership group, and the informal, or the reference group” (Kappeler, 210). Police recruits are evaluated based on their adaptability and moral character. If police recruits are not demonstrating acceptance to the code, there may be a higher risk of the recruit constituting a threat to those who already practice it. Police officers commit crime that include, theft, assault, and trafficking drugs. Police officers are first responders to crime scenes involving gang members, drugs, or weapons, and have access to the crime, suspect, or victim. Police corruption has significantly affected American citizens and continue to be exposed by the media. Police officers are trusted and are given the power to make appropriate decisions, but may engage in corrupt behavior because opportunity allows.

The practice of discretion or police officer decision making is correlated with officer’s choice to deviate while in the line of work. Discretion is the judgement of officers to engage, disengage, or take action or no action in certain crimes being committed by the public. Officers are obligated and highly expected to interpret the laws and regulations, and enforce them based on individual judgement. Discretion is an important factor for officers to abide by to avoid further discrepancies and complaints arising in their career. If proper actions or intervention is being upheld, it may lead to more dangerous situations. When officers are encountering the public, they shall be assessing every situation and making quick and assertive decisions. Discretion must be used by every police officer as it determines the officer’s ability to react or handle to certain situations that requires intervention.
In criminal investigations, police officers prioritize their caseloads based on a status of 'high profile cases.
How officers prioritize, is the observation of suspects, victims, and media coverage around criminal cases that requires more attention. Most police departments will recruit and select officers based on a standard level including education, experience, and moral character and ability to make quick decisions. Once officers are trained and has gained experience in the field, they began to adapt to their organizational structure and values and practices in the field, which persists of corrupted behavior and tactics. The organizational structure of police agencies provides a basis for expectations and responsibilities of police officer while in the position of power. Officers who are appointed to higher positions of power will take on more responsibility and train officers of lower levels of the police institutions culture and practices. Training of police officers is an important factor of the job because it allows officers to stay educated and skilled with new threats to societal safety. The structure of the agency includes a chain of command, promotion requirements, operational duties, specified job tasks that is beneficial to the agency. As mentioned in class, strategy does drive organizational structure to include leadership and job tasks to ensure the department is running
efficiently.
To make needed changes to the criminal justice system, it is necessary to understand the police functions or field operations.
Authors Roberg, Novak, Cordner, Smith discussed police functions as two primary roles. 1) patrol and 2) investigations. While officers are given a variety of activities and job task that they are held accountable to make appropriate decisions based on judgement. Police patrol has been referred to as the “backbone of policing” (Roberg). The patrol function provides the greatest amount of crime response and services to the community and its citizens. When looking at police strategies and practices, it is purposeful to analyze the agency’s goals of patrol and evaluate statistics to see how well the department is doing. For example, the goals of patrolling include, services, crime prevention, and community events that allow citizens to provide feedback about their police department. Patrolling allows officers more lead way to solve community problems and regulate criminal activity that is affecting the community. The investigations function is another major role within police field operations. Investigation function does not have many officers assigned, as they are only needed on a case by case basis. Most activities happen within the local community, which requires more officers to patrol and be available for intervention. While police officers investigate specific crimes and activity, they are gathering evidence, information, witnesses, collaterals
etc., to develop a finding. While the work of police officers can be very stressful and overwhelming, officers are expected to maintain their character, appearance, and continue to be an asset to the department and its community by performing job duties to the best of their ability. Officers receive additional trainings on how to handle situations such as gang violence, intimate partner violence, and active shooters. Although police officers are given a variety of responsibilities, they are to represent their department, Chief’s, and community by engaging in good behavior and ensuring justice to their fellow citizens. The purpose of discussing the police functions was to show how effective they are in terms of crime reduction. If police officers are continually patrolling the community, crime can be reduced as the police response would increase. Before considering changing policing strategies, it is important to understand the two functions.
In conclusion, how does police departments implement better practices to detect and persecute police corruption and conduct? How can police officers be encouraged to maintain good behavior, while given the power to intervene in citizen’s lives? It is quite difficult to appoint an individual with “power and authority” and regulate their behaviors and actions that may not be of good judgment. Corrupted officers or officials will develop their own strategies and secrecies of unlawful practices that allows them to engage in some criminal activity, without being caught or punished. In society, today, police officers from various departments are engaging in more corrupted behavior and the media is exposing it with the major effects on society. Police organizations must ensure they are selecting officers who meet all departmental standards and appear of good character to eliminate the risks of police brutality. Police officers are given the opportunity to exercise power and maintain authority, but does not always. To ensure the officers are in compliance with departmental policies, it calls for more regulation and investigations of police behavior. Balancing a police-community relationship is widely important, as citizens can assist officers with information as well as gain respect. The policing institution has been faced with many challenges involving public’s dissatisfaction, policing practices, and use of force on persons. As a society, we need to improve our policing agencies, provide more resources, and regulate more police behavior for the best interest of citizens.