Police Corruption

How many times have you witnessed a local police officer receiving a free cup of coffee or doing something immoral or illegal and getting away with it just because of the fact that he or she is "the law"? The first example may seem petty but is still in all illegal. This can be referred to as police corruption. The definition of police corruption is "the abuse of police authority for personal or organizational gain." (Schmalleger, 2004) These are two prime examples of police corruption. Police corruption is something that people do not often think of because society has led us to believe that our trust should be held in police officers and there doings. After all, they are the ones that protect our neighborhoods and keep the "bad guys" off of the streets. We are not led to believe that they themselves may make up some of those so-called "bad guys."

Many people agree that along with the power in which a public officer receives as part of their job, the temptation of abusing that power is just as prevalent. Since the time that there were laws and regulations in place, many aspects of law enforcement have drastically changed, but police corruption is one facet that has remained the same, or possible has even gotten worse. Police corruption can be broken down into two (2) main sections, internal and external corruption. (Weber, 1993) Internal corruption is the illegal acts of the police departments within its own or related departments. External corruption is the illegal acts of the police department with the public. External corruption can take place when officers agree to accept money or services for looking the other way or accepting that free cup of coffee. The most widespread area of corruption is that of external corruption, routinely having to do with drugs and drug money. Other examples of external police corruption are domestic violence within the home of officers and perjury by officers.

In 1972, a group referred to as the Knapp Commission investigated police corruption within the New York City Police Department after Frank Serpico, an undercover agent revealed illegal doings of NYPD officers. During this investigation, it was concluded that specific officers were taking bribes to keep gamblers, prostitutes, and others from being arrested. The Knapp Commission formed two (2) areas of corrupt officers which are referred to as the "grass-eaters" and the "meat-eaters." (Braziller, 1973) The "grass-eaters" are those officers who accept smaller, less extravagant forms of corruption which occur in the normal course of police work. Some officers often think of this not as corruption, but as the fringe benefits of the job. An example of this would be the free cup of coffee or not pulling over a family member for speeding. The "meat-eaters" are those officers who commit more excessive forms of police corruption such as thieving the drugs or the money from a large drug raid for their own purpose or use. Many reforms followed this investigation, but the corruption still continued.

Again, in New York City, five police officers were arrested on drug-trafficking charges in 1992. Michael Dowd, a New York City officer just could not get by on the mere $400.00 per week salary which was paid to NYPD officers at that time; therefore, he took a job aside of protecting the citizens of this City. Dowd became a drug dealer, quite the opposite of protecting the citizens, don't you agree? He had graduated from accepting free coffee and free pizza to stealing money seized in drug raids and from there he went to robbing the other well-known drug dealers and reselling the drugs. He soon formed a group of twenty (20) officers from his Brooklyn precinct who helped him in illegal acts. Eventually, it got to the point where one of the dealers was paying Dowd and his comrades $8,000.00 per week in protection money. In May of 1992, Michael Dowd and four (4) other officers were arrested on drug trafficking charges in Suffolk County, New York. Shortly after the investigation into these corrupt acts by local police officers, New York City mayor at the time, David Dinkins established the Mollen Commission.

The Mollen Commission is similar to the Knapp Commission in that its primary goal was to eliminate police corruption within the New York City Police Department.

Another form of police corruption is abuse within the officers' home. There are many instances of domestic violence within the homes of police officers which are never uncovered or reported. These crimes are not reported due to the simple fact that many wives (or husbands) are scared or fearful that they will be calling a co-worker of their spouse to come and "rescue" them from the violent situation and that will make their spouse feel uncomfortable or the on-duty officer just will not do anything