Police corruption is a very serious problem but also a very avoidable issue (Melig 2012). Some police departments have become so riddled with corruption that the public views every officer, no matter where they are located through out the country as being crooked or bad. This type of behavior for police paints a bad picture for all police and is a main reason that departments simply do not let the officers take gratuity from the public. The thought is a simple gratuity could lead a relatively honest officer down the path towards corruption. Ensuring that officers do not come close to being on a slippery slope is important as they will not be tempted into exchanging goods or money for any services from the officer. That will also ensure
…show more content…
Simple gestures as a candy bar or cup of coffee purchased for an officer can lead them down the slippery slop. When it comes to slippery slope and its relationship to gratuities there are some people who will go out of their way to purchase items for police officers and expect something in return for that officer, such as a free pass or look the other way towards a violation. An example of how an officer would get started on a slippery slope would be starting from the top an officer is offered one hundred dollars from a man often speeds in the officers patrol area in exchange for the officer to not pull him over. Should the officer accept the money it could lead him down the slippery slope by accepting more money and the officer now is engaging in extortion, burglary, and drug dealing because of the extra money he is earning. Another example of slippery slope would be an officer accepts free food from a restaurant for years but busts the owners son for DUI. The restaurant owner raises allegations that they were paying off the police in exchange for the police to look the other way on violations, this now bring the whole department under investigation. The slippery slope does have the potential to bring unwanted or needed attention to a department, thus having officers simply abstain from any gratuities looks to …show more content…
Rotten-apple rather explains that improper recruitment lead to the hire of individuals that were not qualified to be police officers in the first place. New police officer recruits decided to become police officers not because they wanted to serve the law but the exact opposite so they could break the law disguised as officers. This behavior has been confirmed by numerous departments based on corruption cases and the largest one was the River Cops in Miami, a tenth of the department was removed in the end due to corruption that saw murder, drug trafficking and robberies (NCJRS 2001). The final idea behind the rotten-apple theory thus why is has its name is while corruption is possible in any police department, not every officer is corrupt or even prone to corrupt, only a select few officers might be corrupt (NCJRS
Simple gestures as a candy bar or cup of coffee purchased for an officer can lead them down the slippery slop. When it comes to slippery slope and its relationship to gratuities there are some people who will go out of their way to purchase items for police officers and expect something in return for that officer, such as a free pass or look the other way towards a violation. An example of how an officer would get started on a slippery slope would be starting from the top an officer is offered one hundred dollars from a man often speeds in the officers patrol area in exchange for the officer to not pull him over. Should the officer accept the money it could lead him down the slippery slope by accepting more money and the officer now is engaging in extortion, burglary, and drug dealing because of the extra money he is earning. Another example of slippery slope would be an officer accepts free food from a restaurant for years but busts the owners son for DUI. The restaurant owner raises allegations that they were paying off the police in exchange for the police to look the other way on violations, this now bring the whole department under investigation. The slippery slope does have the potential to bring unwanted or needed attention to a department, thus having officers simply abstain from any gratuities looks to …show more content…
Rotten-apple rather explains that improper recruitment lead to the hire of individuals that were not qualified to be police officers in the first place. New police officer recruits decided to become police officers not because they wanted to serve the law but the exact opposite so they could break the law disguised as officers. This behavior has been confirmed by numerous departments based on corruption cases and the largest one was the River Cops in Miami, a tenth of the department was removed in the end due to corruption that saw murder, drug trafficking and robberies (NCJRS 2001). The final idea behind the rotten-apple theory thus why is has its name is while corruption is possible in any police department, not every officer is corrupt or even prone to corrupt, only a select few officers might be corrupt (NCJRS