POLICING IN AMERICAN SOCIETY

Policing in American Society

Policing in American Society

Introduction

For as long as policing has existed in America, there has been misconduct and corruption associated with any given policing agency. Police officer malfeasance can range from minor cases of misconduct to the downright criminal acts that are considered to be corruption. It is important to state here that not all police officers are guilty of misconduct and/or corruption, but like everything in our media-based society, the “bad” cops are of much more interest and therefore are what this paper will focus on.

Discussion

There are two types of corruption that most police malfeasances fall under: grass-eating and meat-eating. Defined by the Knapp Commission in the early 1970s, grass-eating is misconduct that occasionally occurs in normal every day scope of police work. (Schmalleger, 2005). Meat-eating is when police officers actively seek out illicit ways to make money, usually through bribes, threats, or intimidation (Schmalleger, 2005).

Grass-eating is usually viewed as the least serious type of corruption. Some forms of grass-eating are relatively harmless, such as mooching (police officers accepting free items from donors) and favoritism (issuing license tabs, window stickers, or courtesy cards that exempt users from arrest or citation from traffic offenses). Aside from these examples of grass-eating, there are still some types that are undeniably corrupt. These types of grass-eating include bribery (receiving cash or a “gift” in exchange for past or future help in avoiding prosecution), extortion (holding a “street court” in which minor traffic tickets can be avoided by the payment of cash “bail” to the arresting officer, with no receipt given), and shopping (picking up small items such as candy bars, gum, and cigarettes at a store where the door has been unlocked at the close of business hours). This type of grass-eating often leads to meat-eating corruption.

Meat-eating is the more serious type of police corruption. When a police officer is meat-eating, if he or she gets caught they are almost certain to be fired from their job as well as possibly arrested if their meat-eating is serious enough. Some examples of meat-eating include premeditated theft (using tools, keys, or other devices to force entry and steal property), shakedown (taking expensive items for personal use during an investigation of a break-in or burglary), and perjury (lying to provide an alibi for fellow officers engaged in unlawful activity or otherwise failing to tell the truth so as to avoid sanctions). Planting evidence, nonjustifiable homicide, and dealing drugs and/or aiding drug dealers in any way are also very serious meat-eating corruption offenses.

There are numerous reasons why police misconduct and police corruption aren't easily defined, but probably the most important one is that not everyone has the same moral standards and a lot of people would define that which is ethical differently. Many justify their behavior by telling themselves that as long as no one else is getting hurt by their actions and as long as no one else finds out about their behavior then what they are doing is ...