Corruption in Police Departments

Corruption in law enforcement has been persistent, and it continues to be a serious problem within many police departments (McCafferty, Souryal, & McCafferty 1998). Researchers have studied many different aspects of police misconduct includingThere is an overwhelming amount of literature regarding police misconduct and it has been divided up into different types of categories that misconduct can be classified in as well as and different types of corruption (Barker 1996; Bonifacio 1991; Punch 1985), explanations or causes for an officer s misconduct (Barker 1996; Delattre 1994; Dunham and Alpert 2001; Sechrest and Burns, 1992), and descriptions of unethical or other misbehavior by officers (Barker 1996; Bonifacio 1991; Delattre 1994).

With so much information available, this eBook provides a condensed version for students. The information available in this book is useful not only for the classroom environment, but for public service departments as well. This eBook is handy for everyone, and it is written in an easy to understand format and easy to read reference source.

This eBook will inform the reader aboutCorruption is present when there is lots of power associated with the role given to an individual. This is the case for many instances of corruption in police departments, and the cause is mainly a consequence of ungoverned, self-regulated power.

The extent of corruption in police departments is a controversial subject, and there are some researchers that report an overwhelming amount of corruption, and there are other researchers that report very little corruption. While both groups of researchers agree that there is an instance for corruption in police departments, neither group can pin point exactly how much or how little corruption is present. This is because the only way to gather this information is through the study and questioning of police officers and their management. Researchers cannot be certain of the quality of their research subject s honesty when corrupt behavior is in question.

This brings the issue of corruption in police departments to the forefront of many research projects from an academic standpoint as many students and experts of law, psychology, and criminal justice attempt to form a system to measure, treat, and prevent corrupt behavior in police departments.

The importance of this subject to researchers is not lost on police departments, as there are cases where police officers involved in corrupt behavior are punished by losing their job, being the subject at disciplinary hearings, and/or being held in a civil lawsuit. However, there is a certain protection given to officers, regardless of their corrupt actions or behavior that is granted by the Garrity Rule. Officers that are protected by the Garrity Rule are not be prosecuted in a criminal case because of the information gathered by an internal investigation or because of self-incriminating confessions.

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Corruption.

Measuring Corruption.

The Bad Apple Perspective of Corruption.

The Bad Barrel Perspective of Police Corruption.

Research to Reduce/Eliminate Corruption.

This eBook is designed to put together the major research efforts done in the field of police corruption in an pick apart different sources of literature for the reader and present the information in an easy to digest format. This eBook will explore the concept of corruption in law enforcement from two perspectives: the bad apple perspective versus the bad barrel perspective, and the efforts in place to prevent or control corruption through individual and social means. With so much information available, this eBook provides a condensed version for students. The information available in this book is useful not only for the classroom environment, but for public service departments as well. This eBook is handy for everyone, and it is written in an easy to understand format and easy to read reference source.