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.