Police Corruption And Misconduct

Superior Essays
Introduction

Police corruption and misconduct has been a concern since the inception of the first police force. Every workplace has individuals who commit illegal or unethical acts of misconduct. The police department is no exception. Officers are responsible for acts of corruption, excessive use of force and brutality, violations of due process, racial discrimination and various other unethical behaviors. There are certain types of misconduct that occur most often and they have a wide reaching effect on the community as a whole. Researchers have come up with many theories as to why these types of misconduct occur, while officers have their own excuses. Police departments are utilizing several methods to reduce the occurrence of misconduct
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(Prenzler, 2009) These types of occurences made the people fearful that the new police would behave in the same manner towards the community. As a result “Bobbies”, named after Sir Robert Peel, patrolled areas unarmed carrying only a club, or truncheon, for a weapon and a whistle to instill trust in the people. They were instructed to be courteous, helpful, to focus on crime prevention and only use force as a last resort. (Prenzler, 2009) This form of policing was adopted in major cities around the globe including those in the United States. However, it was not long before a lack of supervision on the frontlines led to high levels of corruption including crooked politics and racketeering and bribery to protect illegal operation. Beating individuals in order to obtain confessions for serious crimes or as a form of justice for smaller crimes became common place. (Kappeler et al., 1998) The United States has had three eras of policing and each era has had its own problems in dealing with corruption and police misconduct. The Political Era (1830-1930) was modeled more or less after the London Metropolitain Police and Robert Peel’s …show more content…
These include organizational breakdowns in management, ecological/environmental characteristics and sometimes officers are just “bad” people. While internal departments are primarily responsible for the discovery and punishment of police misconduct the structure of the entire organization as a whole is often to blame for higher levels of police corruption. Discipline styles have gained a significant amount of attention when it comes to placing blame on internal corruption. (Lee et. al., 2013) The more an officer feels he has to risk the less likely he is to commit acts of misconduct. (Prenzler, 2009) If management fails to properly discipline individuals, often by intentionally turning a blind eye to transgressions, they set a precedent of tolerance that leads to additional misconduct, not only by the officer that was not given discipline but also by other officers in the unit. (Lee et. al., 2013) Some refer to it as a “bad apple” but with bad organization and poor structure it becomes a “bad barrel.” Thus punishment will not deter corruption unless those who are liable to commit misconduct truly believe they will be punished. (Klinger,

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