POLICE CORRUPTION

Police Corruption

Police Corruption

Introduction

This is a scenario-based paper, in which I have been consulted by the Chief of the Chicago Police Department to plan out strategies against the root causes of corruption in the Police Department. This paper will discuss the isue of corruption and recommend some suggestions to be implemented for the betterment and smooth functioning of the department.

Discussion

The police organization is the primary public agency representing the state in the lives of citizens. In Western-style democracies the police institution is ostensibly subject to accountability through adherence to the rule of law and due process. Deviation from the ideal of an accountable public service reflects on the legitimacy of the state (Ward, 2007).

Third, when police corruption is exposed, ensuing scandal and reform may attract attention to deviance in the wider system. The miscarriages of justice in Britain led to criticisms of the judiciary and the appeal system and weaknesses in the use of forensic evidence; this in turn fostered major legislative reform (Sayed, 2008). In Belgium, the turbulence around the police and justice failures in the case of Marc Dutroux, a convicted rapist who abducted young girls of whom four died, led to an upsurge of popular demands not just for reform of the police and judicial apparatus but also of the broader political and societal system (Goldstein, 2005).

Causes of Police Corruption

Police corruption is to a significant extent a product of other forces in society. Factors generating police corruption include economic conditions, politicians' control of the police, corrupt social systems, the proliferation of organized crime syndicates, the drug war, greed, power, and differential association (Chambliss, 2006).

In capitalist societies, such as the United States, where the accumulation of wealth is most people's ultimate goal, the police are employed by society to maintain civil order. But when an economic boom enriches many and leads to very obvious income inequalities, some police officers will use corruption as a means to increase their own wealth. For example, when police salaries are stagnant for decades in the wave of an economic boom—as in Nigeria, Zaire, and some other developing countries—some police officers will try alternative means, however illegal, to make ends meet.

The police in some nations and communities are the pawns of the politicians who may manipulate them. The police operate under the orders of the head of state, the governor, or the mayor, and they comply with those authorities' wishes—including those regarding their illegal activities. Some states and cities in the United States have had such politicians (Black, 2008).

In those countries, the police engaged in political corrupt activities to satisfy their political leaders and keep their jobs. In some situations, honest police officers resigned rather than go along with official corruption, without being able give their true reason publicly (Goldstein 1975).

Where corruption is rampant, as in a predatory state, the police are drawn into corrupt activities. In such a system, the ruling class, the civil service, and the business sector engage in all kinds of criminal ...