Corruption In Policing Essay, Research Paper
Corruption in Policing “For as long as there has been police, there has been police corruption.” Thus observed Lawrence Sherman on the oldest and most persistent problem in American policing. In America, people put their trust in a select group everyday for protection against crime and harm. A group of people who’s primary purpose in life should be to serve and protect. They are police officers that have taken an oath to do so. Americans have taken for granted that this highly selective group of officers will complete their duties with honor, courage, dignity and that they will be honest and remain professional about their jobs. Little do they know the system has deceived them. There are too many situations in America that police officers can take advantage of and most of the time they do. That is why being a police officer is one of the hardest jobs to achieve because of the strict selection process. The people want the best to fill this job and a lot of people have no idea what is really going on. The problem is that a large deal of police officers are going corrupt. Myself, I had no idea until I had inside look of what goes on when no one is looking. Unnecessary brutality, money scams, and sex on the job to name a few of what types of problems that are going on. For some officers the temptation for sex and money is too great to resist, but the brutality is committed out of meanness. How can the people of America feel safe from criminals when most of them are the people who are supposed to be protecting them? Personally I feel the same about there always being corruption in policing in
there is a need for recruit training on the importance of a corruption-free department. The creation and maintenance of an internal affairs unit, with vigorous prosecutions of lawbreaking police officers, is also critical to the function of integrity. Finally, there should be some mechanism for rewarding the honest police officers, which should minimally include protecting them from retaliation when they inform on crooked cops. All police officers should be given written, formal guidelines on the departmental policy on soliciting and accepting gifts or gratuities. This apprizes officers of the administration’s view of such behavior and assists the chief executive in maintaining integrity and disciplining officers accordingly. It is clear that police behavior is closely scrutinized today. The police are held to a much higher standard of behavior and accountability, especially since incidents of brutality received national attention. Police brutality and corruption, although infrequent, evoke the words of Hans Kung: “The one world in which we live has a chance of survival only if spheres of differing, contradictory or even conflicting ethics ( cease to exsist ). This one world needs one ethic. Our society does not need a uniform religion or a uniform ideology, but it does need so binding norms, values, ideals and goals” (qtd. in Watkins 1). Work CitedWatkin, Gordon. “When Bad Guys Are The Cops.” Newsweek 72. 11 Sept. 1995: pg.20. 7 Nov. 1999 .