Police Corruption

With great power comes great responsibility. As police officers begin going through their training they soon realize the great power they will soon possess. As history and documented facts have shown us, many of them show great control and responsibility. On the other hand, there are a small percentage of officers who take advantage of their control and become corrupt. This brings scrutiny and lack of trust in police departments nationwide. Police corruption refers to police personnel who use their position and authority for personal rather than public benefit (1). Ever since the idea of rules and regulations came about in the early 1900’s, led by August Vollmer, there have been law personnel who were chosen to enforce those regulations. The majority of officers do their job the way it should be done, but there are a hand full who abuse their power. There are many different types of police corruption. Gratuities, bribes, thefts and burglaries, and narcotic arrests are the most common. Police corruption is work-related law breaking. This happens in every profession. The two main elements of police corruption are the misuse of authority and personal gain. Policing provides many opportunities, temptations, and conditions for corruption. Police corruption is a major issue in policing that must be reduced. Police corruption can be broken down into two sections; internal and external. Internal corruption is the illegal acts and agreements within a police department by more than one of the officers (2). External corruption is the illegal acts and agreements with the public by one of more officers in a department (2). Internal corruption only happens in very corrupt departments. Here, bribes may be used for promotions of favored assignments. External corruption can range anywhere from simple gratuities on free meals to narcotics arrests.
Although many find this harmless, accepting gratuities is a form of corruption. An officer accepting a gratuity opens the door to