Corruption in a Police Department

Part A

Corruption is the most global frequently debated ethical issue. Corruption is an institutional problem that affects even the most sophisticated nations. The United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom, for instance, have continued to experience corruption issues within their forces. Corruption in police departments is a comprehensive, varied, and international issue. Several forms of corruption in the department of police include protection of illegal activities, discriminations, kickbacks, fixing of felony charges, direct criminal activities, opportunistic threats, and corruption of authority. Several incidences have been reported where police officers accept bribes from people who engage in illegal activities like smuggling and robbery (Caldero, 2014). Specifically, in the Baltimore police department a group of eight highly recognized police officers are accused of being corrupt. They stole money, drugs and guns for their own profit. To date all but one has been indicted for robbery, extortion, and fraud. Corruption within police departments is an ethical concern that is utterly unacceptable and violates the rules of law. 

Part B

Corruption within police departments is one of the ethical issues identified in the selected event. Corruption was reported in the Baltimore City Police Department where officers charged with the responsibility of seizing illegal guns and drugs used their authority to terrorize citizens of the community and steal drugs, guns, and money obtained from suspects. The officers then went on and resold the very drugs and weapons that had been seized from criminals for personal gain. An investigation was carried out where the six officers pleaded guilty and were charged for conspiracy, overtime fraud, extortion, planting of false evidence, and robbery. The accused officers included Allers, Rayam, Gondo, Jenkins, Ward, Hendrix, and Hersl (Lussenhop, 2018). 

The issue of race discrimination has emerged from this case because a majority of the victims were black men. Racism is a significant aspect of the problem as there is much inclination of police misconduct based on race. African-American men were the point of a target because the Baltimore corrupted officers knew that they would neither complain nor report the incidences (Lussenhop, 2018). Marcus Tailor who is one of the corrupt officers testified that they used to make “door pops” targeting African-American groups of individuals. driving up to large groups and throwing the doors open as if they were about to arrest someone, if they ran they would be chased down and arrested.

The Gun trace Task Force in Baltimore led to the development of mistrust between the officers and the community. The Task force unit stole hundreds of thousands of dollars, prescription drugs, and guns from the very citizens they were supposed to be policing and protecting. All this on an already highly criticized department for corruption. This issues further distances the police department from its citizens.

Occupational culture is one of the causes of the increase in corruption in the police department. People have developed the mindset that a majority of the officers are corrupt based on their previous encounters and experience. Officers have developed the culture whereby their personal integrity is overridden by selfish interest and the move to protect personal relationships with other officers. For example, officers who are honest are accused of being betrayers. Law enforcers have the culture of defending their fellow cops regardless of the number of evils committed against the citizens. 

The bad apple theory can be used to explain the cases of corruption in the police department. According to the theory, weaknesses in morals and character make an individual engage in corruption activities (Jancsics, 2014). Any weakest part of the system can be used to damage the desired outcome. For example, greedy officers are easily lured to take part in illegal activities. The fault in character determines the behavior of a person. For instance, in this case, the officers failed to honestly uphold integrity because of their ill motives to make money and acquire resources through fraudulent activities. People used to think that corruption among police is a temporary issue that can be easily eliminated; however, this has not been the case because of the deeply faulted culture among people and officers who want to make gains financially, professionally or personally. 

Part C

In conclusion, accountability has continued to be elusive in matters involving police misconduct. Corruption hurts social justice and economic development. Moreover, the temptation to participate in bribery goes against moral expectations. The unethical behaviors harm the system, the individuals, and society. There is lack of trust in the police department among citizens, and individuals turn to unethical acts to avoid being implicated in crime by the police. As discussed above, there is a deeply faulty culture that now makes corruption acceptable. Eventually, the society makes corruption a norm. Successful campaigns against bribery will aid in stopping this menace in the country that historically, has been in existence for long. There is a need to change the embedded culture where people feel that they can only gain favors through bribes or other corrupt activities. The change should start with individuals themselves-both the citizens and the law enforcers.

References

Caldero, M. A. (2014). Police ethics: The corruption of noble cause. Routledge.

Jancsics, D. (2014). Interdisciplinary perspectives on corruption. Sociology Compass, 8(4), 358-372.

Lussenhop, J. (2018). Who were the corrupt Baltimore officers?. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43035628