Criminology Opinion Paper #2

Class

Institution Affiliation

Law enforcement agencies (government) is not adequately addressing police corruption and ethical issues

According to White (1999), corruption is any behavior that abusively uses the legitimacy of authority and crosses the parameter of the power vested in an individual. Police corruption involves taking bribes to allow an individual or a group of people to do illegal activities or illegally asking favors from innocent citizens to enrich themselves. Unethical police conduct involves mistreating victims by planting force pieces of evidence and brutality when handling a crime victim.

Police corruption and misconduct is not a new topic of discussion since these unethical practices have been there since the begging. White (1999), looks into a case of the 1920s involving Frank Serpico; a New York police officer who falsified drug evidence. This case remained unchecked until when a new commissioner was installed. This indicated the lack of an adequate monitor of police officers’ conduct (White, 1999).

The court of law; which is a significant component in law enforcement agency has also significantly frustrated the implementation by failing to dig deeper into the issues provided by victims of police misconduct. This has made most police officers feel untouchable and above the law. I believe the government has not done everything in its power to provide a fair environment for both police force and civilians.

Enforcement agencies have not adequately addressed the police misconduct due to lack of independence in decision making. The prominent commissioners in the police department mostly collude with shreds of evidence to protect their units' offices. This influence creates a chain of corruption that prevent justice for the victims of police’s misconducts. Most instances have been recorded involving police planting false evidence to cover up their corruption and transfer the blame to innocent citizens.

The law enforcement agencies have also failed because they have not designed appropriate training programs that teach the codes of conduct by the police officers. As far as these programs may exist, they are not frequently revised to keep the police department abreast with changing...