Training Day Police Corruption

Subject One: Understanding and Combating Police Corruption

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.
One movie that comes to mind when thinking about police corruption is "Training Day." It was released in 2001 and portrayed a rookie cop Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) who is starting his first day as a narcotics officer.
He is assigned to work for a seasoned, but rogue cop Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington), who has a lot more on his plate than just doing his job. Hoyt has been on the force for a short time but has shown promise to be an excellent narcotics officer. He is a little naïve when it comes to his new job, but is tough as nails and has good instinct and intelligence. Harris is corrupt down to the bone and it is evident pretty much from the start of the movie. He has a huge debt to repay due to some illegal gambling, and uses his connections with corrupt officials to get the money to pay his debt, or lose his life. His team of narc officers is also corrupt. He puts Hoyt's character through his paces on his first day and forces him to choose between corruption and doing the right thing. Hoyt being of good moral character turns down Harris's proposal and decides to turn him
in.
This type of corruption is not only seen in the movies, but also in our communities. The city of Memphis has dealt with this in recent years as well. In 2006 three officers were indicted for allegedly setting up drug transactions with dealers and once the dealers arrive the officers would detain them and steal the drugs and other valuables. (Thompson, 2006)
"When the officers violate the trust and the confidence of the public, they are going to be prosecuted by the department of justice." said Western District U.S. Attorney David Kustoff. (Thompson, 2006) It is difficult to understand why officers become corrupt, but holding officers accountable for corruption and issuing strict penalties is one way to thwart corruption and deter other officers from making the same mistakes. While most first time offenders are given softer sentences, officers of the law should be given the harshest punishment allowable by law because they have been trusted and sworn to uphold the law in which they have broken.
Police corruption will continue to plague our country. The greedy nature of human kind will forever cause people to break the law in favor of their own gain. However not all officers are corrupt. There are those that are sworn to protect the public and maintain good law and order and they do just that.