POLICE DEVIANCE AND CORRUPTION

POLICE DEVIANCE

Police misconduct, also called police deviance, refers to inappropriate actions taken by police
officers in connection with their official duties. Still others suggest that existing definitions of police
misconduct are difficult to apply to actual cases, and that new classification schemes are likely
necessary.
Police deviance is a much broader term than corruption. It includes all activities which are
inconsistent with norms, values, or ethics (from a societal standpoint or even from the police
standpoint). A theorem in criminology is that it’s always fruitful to study when people not only break
society’s norms, but the norms of their own social group too. The following definitions may be helpful:

Deviance — behavior inconsistent with norms, values, or ethics

C– forbidden acts involving misuse of office for gain
Misconduct — wrongdoing violations of departmental procedures
Favoritism — unfair “breaks” to friends or relatives (nepotism)

TYPES OF POLICE DEVIANCE

Police Gratuity

A gratuity is the receipt of free meals, services, or discounts. Nonfederal police usually do not
regard these as forms of corruption (“not another lecture on the free cup of coffee or police discount”).
These are considered fringe benefits of the job. Nevertheless, they violate the Code of Ethics
because they involve financial reward or gain, and they are corruption because the officer has been
placed in a compromising position where favors (a “fix”) can be reasonably expected in the future.

Police Shakedowns

A shakedown is when the police extort a business owner for protection money. The typical
scenario involves gay bars, which are considered the most vulnerable.

Police Perjury

This is usually a means to affect an act of corruption, leaving out certain pertinent pieces of
information in order to “fix” a criminal prosecution. “Dropsy” evidence is typical, where the officer
testifies untruthfully that he/she saw the offender drop some narcotics or contraband. Lies that
Miranda warnings have been given, when they haven’t, are also typical. Lying in court is called
“testifying”, and police can do it coolly; they’re trained witnesses.

Police Brutality
 Police brutality has been defined as excessive force, name calling, sarcasm, ridicule, and
disrespect (President’s Commission 1967). Other commissions have simply used a vague definition
as “any violation of due process”. Kania and Mackey’s (1977) widely-regarded definition is “excessive
violence, to an extreme degree, which does not support a legitimate police function.” When a citizen
charges police brutality, they may be referring to a number of things, including:

• profane or abusive language

• commands to move or go home
• field stops and searches
• threats of implied violence
• prodding with a nightstick or approaching with a pistol
• the actual use of physical force

Police Profanity

There are many reasons why a police officer would use obscene and profane language.
Effective use of verbal communication is one of the skills expected in police work. Concepts such as
“command voice” and “command presence” are routinely taught at police training academies. The
FCC specifically condemns certain words on radio and television that are “patently offensive”, but
there’s no such mechanism for determining what’s offensive with interpersonal communication. The
following topology exists:

• words having religious connotations (e.g., hell, goddamn)

• words indicating excretory functions (e.g., shit, piss)
• words connected with sexual functions (e.g., fuck, prick)

Police Sex on Duty or Duty-Related

Contacts with promiscuous females and minimal supervision are part of the job. Sooner or
later, every police officer will be propositioned. There are a number of women who are attracted to the
uniform or the aura of the occupation. Every police officer will be able to tell you stories about police
“groupies”. These are women who make the rounds by waving at officers, getting them to stop or pull
over, and then set up meetings to have sex with them, or sometimes right then and there. A woman
such as this typically has sex with whole departments and hundreds of police officers. Other
situations involve:

• traffic stops — to get a closer look at the female or information about her
• fox hunting — stopping college girls to get the I’ll do anything routine
• voyeurism — window peeping or interrupting lover’s lane couples
• victim re-contacts — consoling victims who have psychological needs
• opposite sex strip searches — touching and/or sex with jail inmates
• sexual shakedowns — letting prostitutes go if they perform sex acts

Police Sleeping on Duty

On the night shift, the police car is sometimes referred to as the “traveling bedroom”. In police
argot, a “hole” or “coop” is where sleeping takes place, typically the back room of someplace the
officer has a key to and can engage in safe “cooping”. Police officers who attend college during the
day or moonlight at other jobs in order to make a decent living are often involved in this kind of
conduct. Numerous court appearances during the day can also be a factor, along with the toll of shift
work.
 Sleeping on duty, of course, is just an extreme example of goldbricking, the avoidance of work
or performing only the amount minimally necessary to satisfy superiors. Goldbricking can take many
forms: from ignoring or passing on calls for service to someone else; overlooking suspicious behavior;
or engaging in personal business while on duty.

Police Drinking & Abusing Drugs on or Off Duty

There are endless opportunities to drink or take drugs while on duty (e.g., victim interviews,
shakedowns, contraband disposal), and the reasons for it are many: to get high, addiction, stress,
burnout, or alienation from the job. However, even in cases of recreational usage (which doesn’t
exist, since officers are never off-duty or have any of their “own time”), the potential is there for
corruption. The officer must obtain the drugs from some intermediary, involve others in transactions,
and open the door to blackmail, shakedowns, rip-offs, and coverups. It sets a bad example for public
relations. Alcohol and drug use tends to become a systemic problem; others become involved, either
supporting or condemning the user. Alcohol and drugs tend to be mixed by police officers because
there’s more sub cultural support for alcoholism; thus, the abuser covers up the drug use with
alcoholism.

POLICE CORRUPTION

Police corruption is a form of a police misconduct in which law enforcement officers end up
breaking their political contract and abuse their power for personal gain. This type of corruption may
involve one or a group of officers.
Police corruption, which is defined for the purposes of this inquiry as acts involving the misuse
of authority by a police officer for personal gain for himself or others, and excluding police misconduct
motivated by factors other than personal gain, is a very sensitive subject among police personnel.
Police corruption broadly refers to “acts of misconduct by police officers aimed at obtaining
financial benefits or other personal gains in exchange for selectively enforcing or manipulating rules,
as well as the conduct of investigations and arrests” (Chêne, 2010).

TYPES OF POLICE CORRUPTION

External Corruption

Police corruption is an abuse of power for personal gain that can occur during everyday
events. For example, abuse can include an officer taking a bribe when an he stops a speeding
motorist and is offered money to not write the ticket. A shakedown happens when an officer asks for
money to let the speeder go and not write the ticket.

Protection of Illegal Activity

 Policemen originally investigating illegal activity could become involved with a criminal element
like drug dealers. The abuse occurs if they accept drugs and payoff money to protect the dealer's
territory and business. This corruption permits continued drug trafficking in communities, which in turn
harms the public.

Theft at Opportunity

Policemen earn a modest salary. Temptation can be an irresistible lure when a narcotics raid
recovers thousands of dollars in money and drugs. Police officers have been known to take
advantage of the opportunity and remove some of the funds or drugs from the raid, which will lead to
more corruption.

Internal Corruption

Internal affairs are a department within the police department that polices the police. The
organization was developed to investigate and punish police who break the law and the higher-ups
who are aware of misconduct and allow it to continue.

SOLUTIONS TO POLICE DEVIANCE AND CORRUPTION

Police Deviance

1. Investigating and sanctioning officers who misbehave can be an effective way to handle police
deviance. Almost all police forces have internal affairs (IA) units that are responsible for
investigating police officers who misbehave. They make sure that ordinary police officers do
not overstep their authority or engage in corruption. All officers have records, and bad reports
regarding their conduct can harm their chances of moving up in the police ranks. Because they
attempt to break through the blue wall of silence, IA officers sometimes report skepticism and
mistrust from other officers. While ordinary officers understand that the police need some sort
of oversight, they nonetheless often see the IA division as an unwelcome intrusion on their
work.

2. Other approaches to addressing police deviance include training officers differently so that
they are better able to de-escalate confrontations with the public. Some departments have
been experimenting with reorganizing the way that officers work, allowing the officers who
work the graveyard shift (working late at night) an opportunity to work the same neighborhoods
in the daytime so that they do not exclusively interact with the underworld. People who
encounter the police late at night tend to be more troublesome than those who they would
meet in a daytime shift, who may be more polite, respectful, and appreciative of officers when
they arrive. This sort of schedule can give officers a more sympathetic relationship with the
public and help prevent officer burnout.

3. Another common way to get the police to change their behavior is through civil suits. The
police are often sued by individuals or groups who are not only seeking compensation for the
 harms that the police have caused (say, through excessive force), but also trying to get the
police to change how they behave in the future. These are usually called civil rights lawsuits
and usually argue that an individual's or a group's constitutional rights have been violated by
the officers or by entire police departments. Some of these suits seek monetary compensation,
but often they simply want the police to change their policies. While suing police departments
can be effective, lawsuits face many hurdles in court, because officers have what is known as
qualified immunity. That is, they have a protection from many lawsuits to prevent them from
being harassed by a hostile public. Sometimes, the suits won't result in a reward for the
plaintiff, but nonetheless there will be a court-structured plan to change how the police operate.
These judicial orders are known as consent decrees; they usually do not require the police
department to pay compensation but instead force it to change its practices. Several cities,
including New Orleans, Oakland, and Los Angeles have signed consent decrees.

4. Along with these internal approaches to addressing police deviance are external approaches,
where reformers have worked outside of the departments to create change. Many cities have
civilian review boards that are tasked with keeping an eye on police behavior and handling
complaints from the public. These boards are usually appointed by city officials and often work
with IA units to investigate complaints about police misconduct. If an individual believes she
has been mistreated by the police, she can bring her case to the board, which can investigate
and make recommendations about what should be done. While some police officials consider
such boards to be an unnecessary and unwelcome intrusion into police activities, believing that
they are too susceptible to the whims of public opinion, they can help maintain the delicate
balance that officers must maintain between being considered legitimate by the public and
retaining their ability to effectively maintain order (Hudson, 1971).

Police Corruption

1. Strengthening police leadership, the chief and top administrators have to clearly and publicly
show their commitment to anticorruption policies

2. Developing clear written dept policies and procedures that “draw the line” and make it clear to
the officers and the community what behaviors are and are not acceptable. Violations of
policies must be followed up with disciplinary action. The problem here is often where exactly
to draw the line.

3. Focus on administrative control. The dept environment must be changed to emphasize an anti-
corruption stance. This involves increased supervision of line officers, giving supervisors
increased responsibility for combating corruption, and eliminating dept practices that
encourage corruption (e.g., arrest quotas). In addition, opportunities for corruption must be
reduced. To do this, depts might make public appeals to citizens to stop offering "gifts" to
officers and/or make high-visibility arrests of people attempting to offer bribes. Police work
could be made more visible to further reduce opportunities for misconduct - requring officers to
keep daily activity logs, requiring regular check-ins during patrol, and so on. Rewarding honest
officers and encouraging officers to report corruption within the dept also should be
implemented.

4. Depts need to develop and/or expand their internal affairs division (IAD), with an increased
focus on internal corruption investigations

5. Increase the responsibility and authority of non-IAD supervisors to take action against most
types of corruption. Require all administrators and supervisors, even first-line supervisors, to
 deal with corruption among officers under their command and give them the authority to deal
with problems. This would also include disciplining members of the chain of command who fail
to deal with corruption by officers under their command

6. Finally, put more emphasis on corruption control at the selection and training phase of policing.
This would include greater focus on each applicant’s integrity recruitment phase (background
checks, integrity tests, polygraph tests) as well as providing more anti-corruption and ethics
training at the academy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCES

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O’Connor, T.R. (Nov. 11, 2005). In Part of web cited, MegaLinks in Criminal Justice.

Wikipedia contributors. (2021, October 27). Police corruption. In Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:52, October 29, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Police_corruption&oldid=1052163109

Jones, K. L., 2018. Best Practices in Addressing Police-related Corruption. Transparency

International. Retrieved from https://www.u4.no/publications/best-practices-in-addressing-police-
related-corruption on October 29, 2021

Goldstein, H., 1975. Police Corruption - A Perspective on its Nature and Control. U.S.
Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs. Retrieved from https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-
library/abstracts/police-corruption-perspective-its-nature-and-control on October 29, 2021

Martinez, N., 2021. Civil and Misdemeanors: Types of Police Corruption. Leaf Group Ltd. /
Leaf Group Media. Retrieved from https://legalbeagle.com/8498405-types-police-corruption.html on
October 29, 2021
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2021
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https://sites.google.com/site/colleenislandpolicecorruption/solutions on October 29, 2021