Police corruption is an on going battle in the police force now a days. There are many different hypotheses for it to include the Society-at-Large hypothesis, Structural or Affiliation hypothesis, and the Rotten Apple hypothesis. Also there is the slippery slope theory as well. First lets look at the slippery slope. A slippery slope is defined as “a process or series of events that is hard to stop or control once is has begun and that usually leads to worse or more difficult things”(Merriam Webster, 2015) . In other words once you start down a slippery slope it is almost impossible to stop the fall. An example of a slippery slope is an officer gets a feel meal at a certain fast food restaurant, so now every time they go there they expect to get that free meal. Later on down the road that could turn into having people give him money to get out of a traffic ticket and eventually harsher crimes. Finally that all ends up becoming where the officer is now paid off by a drug lord to turn a blind eye to his drugs being sold how the …show more content…
The Rotten Apple hypothesis is that some officers are just not suited for law enforcement. These officers were found to get in due to poor recruiting methods. An example of this would be having an officer get through the recruiting process and that officer has ties to local gangs which in turn allows the gangs to break in to places with the officer to burglarize it and having the cop provide alibies for the event for the members who were involved in the event. When ever an officer is caught whether they are indeed a bad seed or not the department says the person was a Bad Apple to try and deflect the attention from them. This is why many believe that the Rotten Apple hypothesis is a myth. However there could be a better explanation that is a little closer to the truth, which could be the individual just made a really bad decision and now is having to pay the consequences for that
According to the textbook, Neal Trautman’s corruption continuum helps clarify the unscrupulous activities of cops. The corruption continuum includes four levels on how organizations can become corrupt. The principal level is as per the following: usage of approaches that guarantee that officers know the moral decides that they need to take after. On the off chance that the manager neglects to do this, then officers will trust that they can be degenerate and no will make a move to fix it. The following level is the procedure that includes police chiefs not doing anything when they know of exploitative acts are being dedicated by officers or when they attempt to cover for those officers who take part in defilement. The third level includes officers
Well, slippery slope defined as a progression or sequences of procedures that become harder to break or controller after they are started and this frequently primes of inferior quality and leads to further problematic stuff in the future. Individuals could discover that they are walking a thin line. They could be walking the boundaries of bribery by receiving discounted or possibly even meals at no cost. This could lead to free tickets a ball games or movie theater, or even free stuff for a vacation. Others will see this as the officers receiving these gifts as a financial advantage; money is said to be the root of all evil.
Why do officers become corrupt and more importantly, why do officers who are good keep silent when others are corrupt. The first is that police are not longer trusted by the public. This is increasingly so when looking at the riots that have been forming in Ferguson, Detroit, and New York following use of force in incidents across the nation. Officers are ostracized by the public and looked at as a malevolent force. With this distrust of the public officers band together in order to protect themselves, and keeping themselves separate. This is difficult to do when the public asks for transparency and communication from the police departments, but still shun officers. Civil rights also play a large role in why officers keep things from others. When working with people there are things that officers do that can be seen as a violation of civil rights that officers do when they think that they are acting in the right interest. This also proves a hurdle when looking at justice. Many criminal use the defense of violation of civil rights as a defense instead of pleading that they did not commit a crime. In order to get justice some officers keep these violations secret in order to make sure criminals pay for their crimes. This cognitive dissonance that breaking laws in order to get justice against people who break laws balances out is a major issue that is faced in the law enforcement
From my own personal perspective, I must agree that this phenomenon is real. Police discretion is one of the biggest aspects of the career discussed with those joining the force. The possibility of police corruption is far greater in the field work as opposed to areas where they do more office work or investigation. As discussed by Rich Martin, a New Jersey police officer and criminal justice professor at West Chester University, police corruption can start at low levels such as accepting coffee from convenience stores, subconsciously providing more police presence in return (Martin 2011). An article on police corruption and misconduct, mentions three areas in which police corruption fall: procedural, criminal, and unconstitutional (civil rights violations) (Blanks 2015). Procedural are actions that solely violate regulations
Special units in police forces are essential to the function of any organization, however some of these special units might evolve into feeling superior to the rest of the agency. The mentality of doing it their own way sets in and more likely than not this behavior is not cohesive with the policies and procedures in place by the agency. Unfortunately, this attitude develops from not being checked, and leads to the unit feeling as though they are untouchable. When not having checks and balances
Growing up our parent always told us that police officers were the good guys, and the people that committed crimes were the bad guys. There was a time in our lives that we believed that this was true, police are good, and criminals are bad, simple as that. Police officers played a prominent role in our lives growing up, some were looked at as role models, guidance counselors, but most of all they were our friends. However, at what point did that connection dissipate between police officers and the community? This disconnection was most prominently exemplified in the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), where officer corruption, murder, and lawlessness was ramped within the department. Corruption had become a culture, a way of life for some officers in New Orleans, where supervisors dismissed allegations. Could the use of Rotten Apple mechanism help reduce the corruption in the NOPD? Comparatively, could the application of the Rotten Barrel models provide protection from police misconduct during an investigation?
Corruption within the New York Police Department is a quickly growing phenomenon; to an extent, this is largely due to the cop culture that encourages silence and draws the line at honesty. The good, honest officers are afraid to speak up against co-workers and in the process become corrupt themselves. When police departments were first established in the mid-nineteenth century, corruption quickly followed suit. It began with minor acts of misconduct and today deals with serious criminal activities. Scholars have noted that there is a strong correlation between the officers taking part in corrupt acts and officers wanting to fit in with the culture. In this paper, I argue that the deeper an officer in the New York police department gets into the police culture, the more likely it is that they become involved in narcotic corruption
Police corruption can also be explained by the lack of protection and security police feel they have. They also feel like they are being disrespected by individuals in society, which is why they rely on the subculture for protection and support (Skolnick, 1966). The police subculture has created a lot of secrecy within the organization, which contributes to police misconduct. Police officers will often ignore another police officer’s corrupt actions in order to maintain a good reputation within the subculture (Tator & Henry, 2006). For example, 84% of police officers have directly witnessed another officer using more force than necessary out on the streets (US Department of Justice, 2017). However, instead of reporting the acts of others, 52%
In 1994 a report by the Mollen commission on police corruption in New York exposed disproportionate corruption within the department. Violent crime, including gang type activity, cops in uniform routinely storming drug locations and stealing narcotics, money weapons and whatever they felt like taking. On duty police officers riding alongside drug dealers, providing protection while the dealers carried big amounts of drugs and cash. The commission also found cops who became drug dealers themselves starting up their own drug dealing networks and delivery centers. (Neighborhood Explanations) Although most officers are honest and hard-working, the Mollen report exposed serious, violent activity by some in the department.
Out of the three theories that we read about, the one that catches my eye and that I can agree with the most is the "rotten-apple theory. This theory is described as one or two officers being corrupt in a department, them being the bad apples, and the barrel of apples is the department for which you serve under. The "rotten barrel" theory both suggests that the entire department happens to be corrupt, which I just can't see happening, at least I pray that this theory isn't true, it entails that the entire department is corrupt, even if that department has great officers in it. The "environmental" theory I believe it may have been like this more so in the 50's and earlier years of police pretty much running the mobs and when the mobsters
Police corruption is one of the ethical issues affecting law enforcement officers. Corruption is defined as “impairment of integrity, virtue or moral principle; inducement to do wrong by improper or unlawful means” (Merriam Webster Online, 2009). While the most recognizable form of corruption involves officers taking money for favors (bribery), the actions that are considered corruption include filing false police reports, harassment of any person due to sex, race, creed, religion, national origin or sexual orientation, and failure to protect the rights of citizens. Corruption exists in all levels of law enforcement.
Warren Company makes candy. During the most recent accounting period, Warren paid $3,000 for raw materials, $4,000 for labor, and $2,000 for overhead costs that were incurred to make candy. Warren started and completed 10,000 units of candy, of which 7,000 were sold. Based on this information, Warren would recognize which of the following amounts of expense on the income
Many officers use alcohol and drugs while on duty. Although this commonly occurs in undercover agents, it can happen with even your regular patrol officers. This type of misconduct occurs because there is typically a lack of supervision, a massive availability of contraband, and an exposure to the criminal element. Graft on the other hand, is when the officer exploits their role by accepting bribes or money protection (Pollock, 2012). Such conduct occurs when officers use their uniformed authority to create a personal supply of money (Lyman 2005). Sexual misconduct occurs when officers use their authority as a way to receive sexual acts from citizens of society. This happens mainly with male officers towards female citizens. This type of misconduct also occurs within the department, mainly through sexual harassment of female officers. The final component of corruption and misconduct is that of criminal cops. These officers have basically switched to criminal activity in their day to day tasks (Pollock, 2012).
The cases that are mostly seen worldwide with police corruption are due to drugs and drug trafficking. Police officers get involved with the “easy money” and believe the theory of “I will not get caught”; it is miserable and emotional to see the United States law enforcement get caught up in these cases. “In 2012, two corrupt cops joined forces with drug dealers and are now facing jail time; they put dozens of criminal cases in jeopardy. Officers Diaz and Patrick Mara admitted to ripping off drug dealers of their methamphetamine during traffic stops. This was the beginning to police corruption in Kern County.”(Richard Winton) The two police officers were corrupt since a while back. “They both pleaded guilty to their charge and got punished for it. Officer Diaz would not fully report the drugs they would find and instead would keep more than half. Officer Mara was caught selling methamphetamine to other individuals.” (Diaz and Mara admitted) Other cases they were involved in are now put under jeopardy and could possibly be missed charged. Cops should not allow such horrific thing to occur. If they know about a corrupt cop they should immediately report it. People and younger
Police officers may or may not actively support noble-cause corruption. Sometimes when officers become aware of corrupt or illegal forms of misconduct, they are inclined to “turn a blind eye or look the other way.” It puts their fellow officers in a very difficult position, most officers tend to think that if they turn away and ignore it and do not acknowledge what is going on that they are not part of the misconduct or illegal activity. Most