There are different types of corruption that occur in everyday life. The term corruption is derived from the Latin word “rumpere” which is a verb for the word break. According to Brunei (2009), corruption can be identified as situations where the law is clearly broken. For any kind of corruption to occur, the laws must be stated clearly to eliminate any doubt in its meaning or stir discretion from the public. The interpretation of corruption legally provides a documentation which indicates what can be identified as a corrupt activity as well as what is not part of a corrupt activity. If an act is identified as a prohibited activity, then it is considered as corrupt. However, if the act is not prohibited, it is not corrupt, even though the action may be unethical or abusive.
There are numerous instances that may be confused to be corrupt when they are simply unethical. For instance, in the article by Earl (2016) that reports that a police officer was alerted that there were children who were playing basketball loudly in the neighborhood. An alert such as this has no noble cause since a child playing is a harmless activity that is not prohibited by the law. In addition, the activity cannot be identified as unethical or abusive in any way. Therefore, the act of the police officer who answered the alert cannot be termed as corrupt.
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Reports such as that made by Francis (2016) which states that a police Officer lifted a woman from the ground and pinned her to the patrol car for alleged questioning can be as unethical. On the contrary, to some, this action may be considered as harassment, however, since the reason as to why the woman was stopped in the first place was not identified, it is difficult to identify the noble cause or whether the act by the police officer was an act of harassment. However, the actions of the police officer can be identified as unethical since he failed to handle the woman with the character that is expected of him.
The video by Fox News (2015) clearly indicates an act of harassment. In the video, a police officer was caught harassing a young girl and went to an extent of pulling out his gun and aiming at a college student. According to the victim, the police officer twisted her arm and pulled her hair. The act is a clear indication of corruption as police officers are not supposed to pull out guns on unarmed individuals. Sadly, the issue was only put under investigation but no action was taken.
The issue of corruption has become ingrained into the daily lives of people in the society. Though it is almost impossible to erase all acts of corruption, more stern measures and policies could be put in place to take actions against those who are found guilty of such crimes. For instance, in the act of harassment identified by Fox News, it might be helpful if the police department considers taking away the severance pay offered to individuals accused of harassment. Taking away their safety parachute may discourage future reoccurrences of such harassments. Furthermore, the departments can also consider sharing with the concerned parties the reasons why a police officer was fired from the office. For instance, if all the police officers were made aware that a police officer accused of harassment was fired and the reasons shared with the concerned parties, they might refrain from taking part in any corrupt activities. These strategies, even though they may appear difficult to implement, they have a higher chance of reducing instances of corruption such as harassment especially to public officials. In the long run, these strategies may be the key to eradication of corruption.
References
Bryne, E. (2009). Definitions and Types of Corruption – Elaine Byrne. Retrieved from http://elaine.ie/2009/07/31/definitions-and-types-of-corruption/
Earl, J. (2016). Gainesville cop's response to teens playing basketball goes viral. Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/gainesville-cops-response-to-teens-playing-basketball-goes-viral/
Fox News. (2015, June 8). Officer's conduct in question after pool party confrontation [Video file]. Retrieved from https://video.foxnews.com/v/4283508886001/#sp=show-clips
Francis, E. (2016). DC Police Officer Appears to Hold Woman Off the Ground, Pinned to Patrol Car. Retrieved from https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/dc-police-officer-appears-hold-woman-off-ground/story?id=41422670
