Police Corruption

Introduction

Recent probes of police departments in cities and towns across the U.S. have uncovered widespread corruption among police officers. An eight-month investigation of the Washington, D.C. police department that ended in October 1998, for example, led officials to charge 65 officers with various acts of misconduct. Earlier that same year, 44 officers in the Cleveland, Ohio area were arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Such widespread corruption has prompted some observers to question whether corruption has become endemic to

Police officers are entrusted with the authority to enforce the law and protect society. But recent highly publicized allegations of police misconduct have led some critics to charge that growing numbers of police officers are breaking the very law they are entrusted to protect.

While the vast majority of police officers are honest and motivated by a desire to promote order and safety, experts say, police officers' power affords them unique opportunities to defy the law. Those officers who violate the law or abuse the system, experts say, undermine the effectiveness of all. Many community activists who monitor police corruption argue that such a "code of silence" prevents police departments from effectively detecting and prosecuting corrupt officers in their own ranks. Instead of allowing departments to regulate themselves, they contend, cities and states should implement independent police review mechanisms that would expose misconduct.

Discussion

Many people argue that concerns about police corruption are overblown as a result of a few high-profile scandals. On the whole, they say, police departments are effective at preventing and controlling corruption. They also note that police have been highly effective at reducing overall crime in recent years. Most analysts agree that improvements in hiring practices, training and supervision of police officers could help prevent corruption before it starts. However, many people say that for those reforms to be effective, the entire police culture must change. With growing public scrutiny of police misdeeds, activists argue, now is the time to bring about reforms that would restore the integrity and effectiveness of all law-enforcement officials.

Early Corruption

The first full-time, organized police force in the U.S. was established in New York City in 1845. The New York police department experienced immediate problems with extortion and other corrupt activities. Since that time, police departments in many major cities have struggled against police misconduct, and periodic scandals in most major cities have often incited calls for police reforms.

Although police corruption has never been tracked on a national level, experts say that graft was widespread among police forces in the late 19th century. Police jobs were often filled through political patronage at that time, and city leaders frequently used police to advance their own personal or political interests. Around the turn of the century, municipalities around the U.S. abolished police departments' political ties by implementing civil-service hiring practices. Instead of being appointed by local politicians, police were hired through non-partisan mechanisms and given job security. Although those reforms effectively reduced police involvement in political corruption, they had no effect on other forms of ...