Pitch In

In order for police corruption to be put to an end, we the people, need to stand up for what we believe in and take part in helping stop the growth. If we sit back and do nothing as corruption grows than we are no better than the ones who won’t do anything about helping police the police. If you know someone who has witnessed an act of corruption urge them to come forward. If you witness an act of corruption yourself, than who better to call than 911? The point is that in order for this disease to die out we all have to pitch in and do our part.

Opposition...?

As much as I would love to argue anyone who opposes my views of police corruption being a problem, there are not many, if any, that disagree with my opinion. Police corruption has been and will be a problem until a more organized as well as centralized system is set up in order to stop corruption altogether. Right now the majority of the control on corruption is police reporting other police. As much as I would like to believe a cop would turn in one of his own in order to up hold the law, that kind of thing does not always exist outside of mediocre movies. But who are we to blame them, would you report a man for stealing from a drug dealer if earlier that week that same man had saved your life? I know that it would be a tough decision for me to make. Policing is something that needs to be controlled by a system other than police themselves. However if there is a reader out there who would like to challenge my belief I would love to have a debate over this topic.

Police Corruption Walkthrough

History

            Police Corruption is not a problem that has recently developed in our society. Throughout the history of the United States there have been various forms of corruption in our police forces, from simple acts of bribery as far as murder. During the 1980’s and 1990’s police corruption began to emerge on a much larger scale than ever before as a result of the booming illegal drug trade that was hitting the United States (Police Corruption). Because of this drug trade officers were involved in drug murders, possession of illegal narcotics, theft of evidence and many other crimes involving personal and financial gain.

Prevention

            Police corruption has such a dire effect on law agencies because it undermines the authority that agencies in charge of policing have.  Because there are over 20,000 agencies in the U.S it is nearly impossible to control all of this corruption. However methods of at least deterring or minimizing corruption have been implemented all around the country. Many larger institutes such as the NYPD have adopted internal affairs (IA)  programs and the NYPD has even gone so far as to  place undercover IA agents in with normal officers in order to investigate acts of corruption occurring (Girodo, 1998, p.2). These ideas are helping keep our nation from being overcome by police corruption in all of its forms.

Occurrence

 The New York Times recently reported that between 1992 and 2008 roughly 2,000 officers were arrested for being involved in acts of corruption, this totals about  119 per year. This goes to show that although we may feel safe and snug in our small communities or “safe” cities, we all may still become victims of police corruption.

Police... a great injustice?

Imagine:

You’re driving home late at night; your wife is holding your hand and you feel as though nothing bad can occur in this moment. That’s when it happens... flashing lights, that ever so familiar siren; you’ve been pulled over. You start to worry, you think to yourself “I only had one beer, but what if he smells it on my breath and assumes I’ve had more”. There is a slow tap on your window. The cop goes through the usual steps and you start to calm down than he asks if you’ve been drinking. You turn bright red and start to stammer under the nerves. He looks at you, looks at your license… that’s when he tells you that this can all be handled very easily. You might even catch him glancing at your wife with a greedy look in your eyes… No good can come out of this situation.

            Acts of police corruption can like this one aren’t as non-existent as we like to believe. Because the United States Has over 20,000 police agencies and no centralized control of these agencies police corruption and misconduct is able to go rampant throughout the U.S. As a citizen of the U.S. I firmly believe, and have seen from personal experience, the effect that an officers act of corruption can have on an agency as a whole. Citizens begin to loser faith in their protectors when those same individuals start to turn on the people they are supposed to be protecting. Police corruption is an immoral organism that slowly grabs ahold of police agencies throughout the country and squeezes until all presence of authority has been removed from the law enforcement agencies in our country.