Police Corrupted Research Paper

Course Number
Police Corruption
A Problem with the law
Name
[Date]

Summary
This paper will focus specifically on police corruption and the ways in which to lessen and decrease instances of police corruption. The first section includes an introduction explaining the effects of police corruption from rapes to murder and how it impacts society. It also expresses the need to act, as the United States becomes more like the exceedingly corrupt African countries of Nigeria and South Africa. Comparison of other countries reveals a lack of authority and government as well as public safety concerns.
The other section explains and identifies the different forms of corruption that happen with police officers including: opportunistic theft, tampering of evidence, and accepting of bribes. When police officers commit these crimes, they are often not prosecuted. This is due to the lack of evidence of witnesses against them. Most police officers are trained to avoid getting caught and know how to lie and cover up evidence effectively. This makes police corruption hard to spot and even harder to take to court.
There are however solutions available. Most of which involve money and informing the public. There are several ways to do this. Legislation must be passed to increase funding for police departments and increase the salaries of police officers. New legislation must also include informing the public of the consequences of police corruption and recording any and all police activity. Recording police activity curbs possible criminal behavior and provides the public with the knowledge needed to know what happens in the police department in relation to corruption. Lastly, a brief literature will show how police departments have dealt with and are dealing with corrupt activities, applying some of the forms of corruption identified and methods of how to deal with such problems/issues. Comparison of domestic foreign police force is made throughout.
Introduction
Police corruption exists, and in the news the problems police are facing due to corruption is becoming more and more apparent. Cops are reported using excessive violence to the point of killing the people they detained. Some were even accused of raping inebriated women and lying about supposed misconduct. Recent news reveals a police officer who clearly stated on camera he will not follow the constitution because Obama doesn't. News of police corruption is reaching a peak as most news stories include some crooked cop story. When looking at policing in other countries, primarily in the African continent, police corruption reaches an all-time high with acts such as these occurring more frequently and in higher volume. The governments there not only have limited control over the population, but limited to no control over the army and police force.
What can be done to solve such a dilemma? Can there be a solution both domestically, in the U.S., and internationally? The first step is to identify the kinds of police corruption prevalent. From there, once they are identified, solutions can then be devised to not only curb the behavior, but prevent future re-occurrences. After all, the main job of the police is to protect and abide by the law. If the police force of countries becomes corrupt and police officers willingly choose to disobey the law of the land that can spell trouble for the country's citizens and can lead to possible escalation in violence and crime as seen in third world countries. Furthermore, a renegade army generated from the fearful citizens who fought to protect themselves from the corrupted police force already exist in countries like Liberia and Republic of Congo spelling potential trouble for the United States and Mexico, countries experiencing increasing police corruption.
Police venality encompasses acts of misbehavior intended for procurement of personal benefits, monetary gain or development in careers which are implemented in interchange for selectively following or not following an arrest or examination (Beggs, 2009, p. 34). There are numerous practices of police corruption and one of the most typical is receiving of bribes in order to overlook arrest or inquiry of particular criminal undertakings. In the US, this type of corruption is seen where ordered crime such as prostitution or drug events are concerned. Another often seen kind of police corruption, mainly in the US is infringement behavior and measures to gain a guilty verdict of a suspect. Often it happens by police actively falsifying evidence which incriminates a suspect. In sporadic cases, police partake in criminal activities (Einstein, 2003, p. 56).
When looking at it from an international perspective, police in Africa also participate in taking bribes and falsifying evidence.They're even prone to violence, including sexual violence, as seen in American police officers, however, at a much grander scale. In fact, women who report being raped in areas of India, in parts of Africa, were either ignored or arrested. This is especially true in Muslim countries where women's freedoms are extremely restricted. Unfortunately, because the government of some of these areas does not have strong control over police activity, their illegal activities are often overlooked. This is not case for American police corruption thanks to news coverage and public outcry, but on rare occasions, police corruption can be overlooked by law enforcement as is the case of accidental "shootings" of suspects and so forth.
Some in the government and voices from the public, have even gone to say the reason why police corruption is worsening in the United States and may eventually become as bad as it is in Africa, is due in part to the lack of punishment and fines related to police misconduct. Police officers hardly get arrested or fined, even fired for killing innocent people. Lack of effective deterrents will only fuel the already corrupt individuals inside the police force to continue to perform illegal activities because the fear of getting caught and the fear of facing consequences is lessening.
Most law enforcement organizations do not state figures of police corruption due to anxiety of loss of public backing for the force and power so often used in fighting crime (Gottschalk, 2012, p. 175). Nevertheless, it is recognized that police corruption is one of the ultimate hindrances to combating crime. It is even more difficult to fight organized crimes like the mob and street gangs, since in numerous circumstances, police officers accept payment to guard criminals. In nations like Mexico, combating drug use is a grave problem since most police officers are immoral and safeguard the drug lords that pay them. This paper will assess police corruption, the type of corruption it takes on, and suitable recommendations which need to be executed in order to ease or minimize such behavior and guarantee obedience of the law. A brief literature review will show how current law enforcement in the U.S. and internationally deal with police corruption. The discussed subjects will be abridged in a summary at the end.
Forms of police corruption
There are several forms of police corruption which are observed within the police force. These will be concisely discussed below:
Opportunistic thefts
Opportunistic thefts is a type of police corruption where officers participate in theft whenever they come across an occasion which enables such activity (Lee, 2013, p. 386). Stealing is easily one of the main challenges facing the police since it is problematic to prove unscrupulous thefts by police officers within a court of law due to evidence for these cases being hard to come by or nonexistent. An instance of an unprincipled theft may happen when officers recuperate stolen possessions or money but purposely devalue it in order to take some of it for themselves. Others may reach an opportunity in accident scenes and pilfer valuables from the incapacitated or deceased.
In certain circumstances, police officers take cash or valuables from people they hold in custody. Again, because any witnesses present when the crime is committed are few to none, most of these cases are never prosecuted, leading to increased occurrences of such behavior. Unfortunately, more and more people are having their rights ignored during arrests, especially right to their personal belongings, making it easier for police officers to take from them. Something like a credit card or id can be taken by the police officer and used to engage in identity theft without the arrestee knowing what happened.
In Africa, opportunistic theft is much higher than in United States. The African police force in countries like South Africa and Nigeria (one of the worse countries in Africa in relation to crime rate), are still very willing, even after reform, to steal from people, even stores, and avoid prosecution (Aremu, 2011, p. 202). Unlike America, there is little supervision or evaluation by people within the police force so most of the police officers get away with the majority of their opportunistic thefts. If America continues spiraling down, its police force will match that of Nigeria.
Protection of illegal activities
Defense of unlawful events is one of the highest tasks facing reputable law enforcement organizations across the world. There are numerous police officers who are involved in the protection….....