POLICE CORRUPTION.   Term Paper ID:30360 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Examines causes and effects. Theorizes that police should be held to a high standard of honesty and public care. Theoretical analysis of causes. Analysis of police corruption in two major cities: New York City and Los Angeles. Police deviance. NYPD corruption and local government response. Drug law enforcement as key element of LAPD corruption. Paper Introduction: Police Corruption: Causes and Effects Introduction and Statement of Purpose Edwin J. Delattre (1996, p. 68), a scholar in the field of criminal justice who has extensively studied issues related to the causes and effects of police corruption, has argued that argued that “those who serve the public must be held to a higher standard of honesty and care for the public good than the general citizenry.” This view speaks to the necessity, in any society and particularly within a democratic society, of ensuring that the guardians of law and order are themselves fully compliant with the laws they are responsible for upholding. While few would disagree with this perception of the trust vested in the police departments of the United States and the corresponding expectations of ethical and moral conduct held Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The police and neighborhoodsafety: Broken windows. Reorganization ofthe NYPD IAD and creation of a special prosecutor for police corruptionresulted (Behind the Blue Wall, 2 1). Gleick(1995) pointed out that the surprise is not that police corruption exists,but rather why police departments appear to be locked in a perpetual cycleof scandal, repentance, pledges of reform and fresh scandal, seeminglyunwilling to police themselves. Repairing broken windows. (1995). Delattre, E. Such attitudes have the potential to fuel precursory corruptionor police deviance and facilitate the onset of actual corruption. Thestrategy uses the policy of exclusion and external involvement to emphasizecommand accountability. 68), a scholar in the field of criminaljustice who has extensively studied issues related to the causes andeffects of police corruption, has argued that argued that "those who servethe public must be held to a higher standard of honesty and care for thepublic good than the general citizenry." This view speaks to thenecessity, in any society and particularly within a democratic society, ofensuring that the guardians of law and order are themselves fully compliantwith the laws they are responsible for upholding. (1999). (1995). The reportlaid much of the blame for this state of affairs at the door of policechief Bernard Parks and then-mayor Richard Riordan (Storming therampart..., 2 ).Summary and Conclusion To understand police corruption, Perry (2 1) contends that it isimportant to recognize the effects of the goal-gradient phenomenon, inwhich the closer individuals get to the goal, the faster they run, theharder they try, or the more interest they show. (2 ). Q., & Kelling, G. (2 ). Preventing police corruption appears to be as cyclical as waves ofcorruption observed in locales such as New York City and Los Angeles.While establishing external blue-ribbon commissions or panels may generateinformation on corrupt practices and lead to the elimination of a smallselection of corrupt police officers, these efforts are clearlyinsufficient as a permanent response to the problem. Ignorance of the nature and effects of the goal- gradient phenomenon; . Available athttp://apll.freeyellow.com/drugs23.html. (1982). In 1972, a major inquiry conducted by the Knapp Commission foundinstitutionalized corruption, primarily involving officers taking bribes toallow prostitutes, gamblers, and others to avoid arrest. News & WorldReport, 119(1 ), 2 -23. Delattre (1996) proposed what sociologists call the "broken windowtheory," which suggests that figuratively speaking, if enough brokenwindows in a neighborhood go unattended, the neighborhood will invariablyfall into moral and material malaise. Witkin, G. Glick, E. Relations with ethnicminorities in Los Angeles appear to be strained, while little in the LAPD'straining system was assessed as having the capacity to assist officers indeveloping more appropriate attitudes toward ethnic minorities. Another response to corruption in the NYPD was the development of adepartment-wide integrity strategy aimed at the prevention, detection,investigation, and control of police corruption and misconduct. Even earlier, James Q. The argument will be advanced that onlythrough concerted action, in which government, police agencies andofficials, and the general public are involved, will corrupt practices andbehaviors among duly constituted law enforcement officials and departmentsbe identified, punished, and ended.Theoretical Explanations of the Causes of Police Corruption Frank L. Mollen Commission says cops can't policethemselves. Newsweek, 124(25), 3 -34. The verynature of law enforcement, says Perry (2 1), may lead to a higherpropensity for corrupt activity because of high levels of interaction withthe criminal element, the necessity of discretion and low visibility, andan agency culture negatively affected by poor recruitment practices,ineffective training, and inept internal controls. (2 ). (1993). As of February 2 1, 32 casesin which these officers were involved were reversed on appeal, furtherantagonizing critics of the LAPD in general and CRASH in particular (Policecrime..., 2 ). (1994). This reporter alsoclaimed that efforts by IAD investigators to root out the officersultimately found guilty of narcotics trafficking, were blocked by the "codeof silence" to which many NYPD and other city police officers adhere. Recently, De la Cruz (2 1) reported that a senior NYPD policecommander was charged with staging an arrest in order to steal money from adrug dealer. Even though most American police departments aremore professional than ever before, the brazenness and viciousness of manycontemporary corrupt police officers troubles even the staunchest defendersof the men and women in blue. In a July 1994 report, the Mollen Commission found serious corruptionamong patrol officers in several of the city's high crime precincts. In addition, the report judges the system for monitoring theperformance and behavior of officers as inadequate. Newburn (1999) includedunder the general rubric of police corruption such acts as abuses ofposition ranging from committing a criminal act under color of law to usingone's law enforcement position for a de minimus, or insignificant, privategain. Breaking down the "blue wall of silence" is necessary ifconfidence in the police departments is to be restored. Given that revelations of ongoingcorruption among New York's "Finest" are still forthcoming, it seems likelythat absent an independent watchdog agency, police corruption in thisjurisdiction may continue.The Case of Los Angeles Drugs, and cocaine traffic in particular, are seen as one of theprimary causes of increased police corruption and criminality in the LosAngeles case. (2 ). Misuse of personal attainment While it can be said that power has the potential to corrupt andpolicemen as individuals are no more infallible than other members ofsociety in positions of power and authority, people are often shocked andoutraged when policemen are exposed violating the law. NYPD's "integrity strategy." (1996). Other corruption cases under scrutiny in the LAPD included thefollowing: . The main recommendation of the Mollen Commission, as noted earlier inthis report, was the establishment of a permanent outside watchdog bodywith the power to oversee NYPD's IAD and to launch its own independentinvestigations (De Rienzo, 2 1). (1994). Police corruption and the war on drugs. A major recommendation of the MollenCommission was the establishment of an independent watchdog superior to theIAD, itself not immune to corrupt practices. Its methods have been thrown into starkrelief by allegations that between 1995 and 1998, several CRASH officerssystematically planted evidence and then lied in court (Police crime...,2 ). Thecorruption included groups of officers protecting and assisting narcoticstraffickers, conducting unlawful searches and seizures, committing perjuryand falsify9ing records, and engaging directly in drug trafficking androbberies. De La Cruz, D. While all self-interested or potentially corrupt acts are nowcompletely corrupt, these acts can constitute police deviance, which bestcaptures the nature of the precursory signs of corruption (Perry, 2 1). It isdivided into 76 precincts covering the five boroughs of New York City andalso contains officers from the Housing Authority and Transit Department(Behind the Blue Wall, 2 1). (1999). Why good cops gobad. Los Angeles police corruption investigated.Available at www.november.org/1434.html. Police crime - LA more. As Perry (2 1) claims, an organization that experiences increases inthese precursory signs of deviance becomes a "rotten barrel" even though itdoes not contain completely "rotten apples." Newburn (1999), citingstatements by former New York Police Commissioner Patrick Murphy to theKnapp Commission, commented that the rotten apple theory does not work.Corrupt police officers are not natural-born criminals who areconstitutionally different from their honest colleagues. (2 1). The public has lost confidence in both theDepartment and the Commission, with widespread belief that the Commissionis too closely tied to the mayor to be truly effective in mandating policereforms. One of the critical incidents that focused national attention on theLAPD was the revelation of endemic racism among many officers as expressedby Mark Fuhrman during the O.J. References Analysis of police corruption. More often than not, however, theauthorities have tended to brush away each police scandal as an aberrationat both the local and the systemic levels (Police corruption and..., 2 ).Of late, this practice (known as "the bad apple" attribution in somecircles) has met with intensified criticism. Storming the rampart: The LAPD. The Commission lacks the staff andresources needed to provide effective oversight and has not musteredsufficient will to force through decisions against the wishes of either thePolice Chief or the mayor. The FBI LawEnforcement Bulletin, 7 (2), 23-27. Further, the Commission found that the NYPD, from the top down,had failed to monitor or adequately investigate officers guilty of abusesand that senior officers were practicing a deliberate "blindness" tocorruption (Behind the Blue Wall, 2 1). Judge Milton Mollen, a former deputy mayor of NewYork City and the head of the commission, publicly stated that more than 4 cases of corruption involving senior NYPD officers had never beenprosecuted while another approximately 1 cases had been effectivelyburied or lost in the system. Wilson, J. A new commissioner,Willie Williams, was brought in, but many of the recommendations of theChristopher Commission (similar to those of the Mollen Commission in NewYork) were not implemented. The Economist, 354, 3-4. Perry (2 1) maintains that when comparative reviews ofproblems and best practices, combined with academic research are examined,what emerges is the suggestion that corruption follows certain predictableroutes and the precursory signs occur prior to any actual quid pro quocorrupt activity. Improving theprofessionalism of the recruitment, training, and evaluation processescommon in most major police departments is also clearly a necessity. Based on an analysis of the literature, Perry (2 1) echoes earlierwork by Punch (1985) and Delattre (1996), who argued that threeorganizational failures have the potential to foster a resentful, cynical,and demoralized workforce leading to individual and collective acts ofcorruption. London: Tavistock, 1985. However, in 1992, when six NYPDofficers were arrested on drug charges by the Suffolk County PoliceDepartment, a new commission, known as the Mollen Commission, was appointedby former New York City mayor David Dinkins. With gang violence a continuingproblem in areas such as the heavily populated and largely Hispanicjuncture of Rampart Boulevard and Temple Street, CRASH was formed tomonitor and police gang activity. (1996). The Economist, 354(8156), 23-24. Precursory signs or instances of police deviance are identified byPerry (2 1) as either agency-specific or generic to law enforcement as aprofession. Newburn, T. Police Corruption: Causes and EffectsIntroduction and Statement of Purpose Edwin J. Available atwww.angelfire.com/ny2/bluewall/background.html. Since its creation in the 18 s, the NYPDhas suffered from a series of corruption scandals, running in approximatelytwenty-year cycles, followed by investigations, and then, periods ofreform. (1985). Little or ineffective discipline and deselection of trainees via a commitment to fairly but firmly graduate only those individuals who truly demonstrate performance and integrity standards; . New York police commander indicted. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, known for his"get tough on crime" stance, and Police Commissioner William Bratton wereopposed to the plan; Bratton argued that he could clean up corruptionwithout giving up authority to "outsiders," but DeRienzo (2 1) suggeststhat an inherent resistance to change among the City's 3 , + policeofficers may work against such efforts. The Economist , 331(7861), A29-A31. Available atwww.rivierabeachpolice.com/new_site/article_analysis.htm. Generally, corruption within police departments is seen as fallinginto two basic categories: external corruption and internal corruption.In simple terms, corruption in policing is viewed as the misuse ofauthority by a police officer acting officially to fulfill personal needsor wants (Analysis of police corruption, 2 ). Stiff penalties and sanctions must be implemented and commissionsestablished to externally monitor police actions must be empowered (Beck,2 ). When cases of law enforcement corruption in the current era arerevealed, they come increasingly in the context of drug law enforcement(Police corruption and..., 2 ). Some officersaccept bribes (and these bribes can be quite substantial) to "look theother way" in high-traffic areas, while others provide protection servicesto dealers on their beats. Misuse of authority . U.S. The Police Commission delivered a report to the public on policecorruption in November 2 . No method exists fortracking police officers who exhibit the precursory signs associated withcorruption or the potential for corruption. Gordon Witkin (1995) believes that theMollen Commission report and subsequent activities have been helpful inreducing the willful blindness of senior officials to corruption thatallowed gangs of police officers like Michael Down (sentenced to 14 yearsin prison after admitting he organized fellow police officers to raid theapartments of Brooklyn drug dealers to obtain cash and narcotics). Wilson andGeorge Kelling (1982) made the point that in areas where physical ormaterial decay was commonplace, police corruption appeared to flourish,thus making a clear linkage between social and physical conditions in acommunity and the attitudes and behaviors of officers of the law chargedwith maintaining social order in that community. Delattre (1996, p. The Police Chief, 63(4), 3 -33. Leading to in-depthinvestigation of police force corruption and a proactive response to theproblem (Perry, 2 1). Susan Beck (2 ) claims that a major part of the problem is thatwhile Los Angeles has appointed and maintained a five-member independentand non-elected Police Commission to oversee reforms, this body does nothave the authority to exercise sufficient control over the policedepartment and its administration. For these reasons, widespread police scandals in major policedepartments such as Los Angeles and New York City are a source of enormousconcern (Witkin, 1995). Morganthau, T., Bogert, C., & Beals, G. The task ofcorruption control thus becomes to examine the barrel and not merely theapples, because corrupt police are made and not born. The result of such failures was a decline in public confidencein the NYPD and a growing sense that the agency was not trustworthy orresponsive; in some instances, says Witkin (1995), outright acts ofbrutality and discrimination further undermined public confidence in thecapacity of the NYPD to deliver fair services to the entire NYC community. Friction between the Commission and the LAPD has been substantialand ongoing, but the real problem appears to be that the Commission hassubstantial power in theory and limited power in practice. (2 1). Several officers in the Harlem precinctimplicated in the corruption scandal were high school dropouts or hadcheckered work histories. American Lawyer, 22(6), 64-78. In the LAPD case, the City established the Christopher Commission inthe wake of the 1991 Rodney King beating, Chief Daryl Gates, who had beencriticized frequently for closing ranks with officers rather than beingaccountable to the public, retired under pressure. Simpson trial (Gleick, 1995). The Atlantic Monthly, March, 29-38. Gleick (1995) commented that to purge adepartment of its "bad apples," it is not enough to simply fire (or indict,try and then jail) a few of the "worst cases;" rather, an entire shift inorganizational culture must be effected in which officers' loyalties arenot to one another, but to the public that they serve. Dennis Sindone, 39, was suspended without pay in late May of2 1, a day after a federal grand jury handed up a sealed indictmentcharging him with conspiring to violate the drug dealer's civil rights in1996 when Sindone was off duty. Behind the Blue Wall. Richard Lacayo (1993) wrote at the time of the Mollen Commission thatthe growth of community policing had dovetailed with the increase in policecorruption, particularly at the local or beat level. Perry (2 1) calls for establishing internal controls within policedepartments that are fair, firm, fast, and forthright. By 1999, the LAPD was no closer to reform than it was in 1991.Officers from the elite anti-gang unit known as CRASH (Community ResourcesAgainst Street Hoodlums) were found to have consistently imitated the gangsthey were established to fight. Cops and robbers. Witkin (1995) also contends that contributing to the corruptionobserved in the NYPD is the fact that only recently has police work beentreated as a profession. Some officers go farther, distributing cocainethemselves either in partnership with known dealers or as autonomousdealers. Part of the response to this scandal involved following through onsome of the recommendations of the 1991 Christopher Commission. Emergingdemocracies in Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Pacific Rim are nowconfronted by the immediate and often stark realities of the police role inself-governance. LA confidential: Big-firm lawyers tried to fix theLAPD. It was argued that theLAPD has a strong, militaristic, and insular culture that erects barricadesagainst "outsiders" when it is criticized (Storming the rampart..., 2 ).A Police Commission lacking sufficient power, an adequate and better-paidstaff, and capable of overriding decisions made by the police chief wasseen as a necessary spur for meaningful reform. Time, 146(11), 38-43. Police officers who allegedly rented an apartment for on-duty sexual liaisons with prostitutes enlisted to sell drugs stolen from drug dealers; . Available at http://mediafilter.org/MFF/Mollen.html. The allowance of a double standard within the organization, thereby decreasing moral accountability as professional accountability increases (Perry, 2 1). An officer allegedly caught stealing $6 , in seized cocaine from a police evidence locker; . De Rienzo, P. When the bad guys are cops. Monitoring humanconduct within law enforcement agencies may require the presence of non-officers on IAD panels and in IAD daily activities. Misuse of official capacity . Character and Cops - Ethics in Policing.Washington, D.C.: The AEI Press. The beat cop who once may have lookedthe other way in Prohibition when a speakeasy let in its guests, or morerecently have turned a blind eye to a floating poker or craps game, hasbeen increasingly replaced by officers who actively engage in eitherprotecting or facilitating the sale and transport of illicit drugs incities such as New York and Los Angeles. Unprofessional on-duty and off-duty misconduct, isolatedinstances of misuse of position, improper relationships with criminals orinformants, overt and covert acts of racism or sexism, falsified orembellished reporting, time and attendance abuse, nepotism and cronyism,and noncriminal unauthorized disclosure of information are precursory signsof police deviance that inspection and internal affairs departments (IADs)must monitor. An almostentirely new police commission was ultimately appointed, while the U.S.Department of Justice actually threatened to sue the city for allowing itsofficers to engage in a pattern of unconstitutional violations (Beck,2 ). Availableat www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/18682p-33562c.html. It was alleged that "death parties" wereheld to celebrate the fatal shootings of suspects and members of the CRASHunit are still in court fighting allegations of drug dealing, bank robbing,framing innocent citizens, shooting unarmed civilians, and lying under oath(Murlowski, 1999). Time, 142(15), 43-45. In the United States,Australia, Canada, and Great Britain, research has been undertaken toidentify the symptoms of police corruption and their remedies. Racism,which can foster police brutality and the unequal enforcement of laws, isseen as connected to the growing involvement of police officers in corruptpractices that range from discriminatory treatment to drug dealing. The next sections of this report willexplore corruption in Los Angeles and New York, two cities in which majorinvestigations have uncovered shocking evidence of deeply entrenchedcorruption.The Case of New York The New York City Police Department (NYPD), with more than 38, serving officers, is the largest police force in the United States. NYPD blues: The police . While few would disagreewith this perception of the trust vested in the police departments of theUnited States and the corresponding expectations of ethical and moralconduct held by citizens with respect to police officers, the sad realityis that American police forces are not free of corruption (Perry, 2 1). The public has the right to expect equitable and law-abidingbehavior from its designated law enforcement agencies and officers. According to Morganthau, Bogert, and Beals (1994), theillegal cocaine trade in the Los Angeles area has marched hand-in-hand withincreased police corruption, with officers acting alone or in groups tosteal money from dealers or distribute cocaine themselves. L. The crooked blue line. Under this strategy, the NYPD carried on randomtests to identify offenders and establish the extent of corruption whilealso strengthening and modifying supervision and recruitment procedures(NYPD's "integrity strategy," 1996). In estimating the cost of the CRASH corruption scandal, the LosAngeles City Attorney's office believes that total liability could exceed$125 million (Beck, 2 ). Murlowski, T. Conduct Unbecoming: The Social Construction ofPolice Deviance and Control. At issue in the NYPD case is the necessity of creating cultural changeacross the entire organization. The report, generated by a panel set up toexamine the LAPD in response to the CRASH corruption scandal, firstcriticized the weakness of the Commission itself. Perry (2 1) notes that in the last two decades, researchand commentary regarding the causes and effects of law enforcementcorruption have intensified and diversified. Perry, F. For a corrupt act tooccur, three distinct elements must be present simultaneously: . To obtain a lighter sentence, Perez volunteeredinformation regarding CRASH corruption and other illegal acts committed bypolice officers. J. Beck, S. Applied to lawenforcement, the goal-gradient phenomenon suggests that the midpoint in anofficer's career can present a danger zone for malaise, resentment, andcynicism. (2 1). It is the purpose of this report to examine police corruption in theUnited States, providing a theoretical analysis of the causes of this setof practices and then moving to an analysis of the causes and effects ofpolice corruption in two specific locales. Contributing to the problem in the NYPD was thefailure of top administrators to exercise supervision over the activitiesof line officers - and the decline in IAD activism in rooting outcorruption. Police corruption can take several forms. It must also be recognized, says Gleick (1995), that police officerscome to their tasks with the same set of human traits, attitudes, biases,and prejudices that are found throughout the societies in which they live.While this may be the case, police officers should not be allowed to act onthese attitudes. Ifpolice corruption is to be stamped out the very circumstances that makecorruption possible and easy to cover up must also be eliminated. Lacayo, R. These locales are,respectively, New York City and Los Angeles - two of America's premiercities that have, in recent years, reverberated to calls for policedepartment reform (Witkin, 1995). (2 1). A 35-year veteran police officer arrested for the possession of heroin that was stolen during a police sting operation; . Two Pasadena deputy city marshals and other officers charged with theft, burglary, and manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance (Murlowski, 1999). The problem was exacerbated by the fact that Perezhimself was involved in over 8 convictions and he "fingered" officers whowere involved in an additional 2,5 cases. The reason is quitesimple: the deviance of the guardians of the law elicits a special feelingof betrayal, a fear that corruption is endemic throughout an entiredepartment, a decline in respect for the law and its enforcers, and fear ofpotential personal victimization (Analysis of police corruption, 2 ). Punch, M. Understanding and Preventing Police Corruption.London: Her Majesty's Press. These failures are: . This scandal broke in September 1999 when Rafael Perez, a formerCRASH officer, pleaded guilty to stealing eight pounds of cocaine from apolice evidence store. (2 ). The CRASH unit appears to have become a major source of corruptionand criminal activity among LAPD officers. Among the results of the Mollen Commission were the arrests of 14police officers in the 3 th police precinct in West Harlem, a poverty-ridden African-American neighborhood where drug trafficking was endemic(NYPD blues..., 1994). Though the case has not yet been heard incourt, it is illustrative of the continuing problems of corruption in theNYPD and indicative of the enormous influence that drug dealing and drugmoney can exert over law enforcement officers. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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