Police Corruption

Police corruption is a worldwide problem shared by both developing nations and capitalist democracies. The police occupy a very important position in every social system, and traditionally they have been highly valued, both as an institution and as individuals who serve the community. Despite some skeptics, most people trust the police. Yet corruption is common worldwide, and it is increasing. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the number of American police sentenced to prison increased from 107 in 1994 to 548 in 1998 (Ronald and Ostow 1998).

This means that criminal justice researchers as well as the general public are faced with answering some very basic questions: Why are there are good and bad police officers and departments? Why are some police officers corrupt and others are not?

In Black's Law Dictionary, corruption is defined as “an act with intent to gain some advantage inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others. The act of an official of fiduciary person who unlawfully and wrongfully uses his station or character to procure some benefit for himself or for another person, contrary to duty and the right of others.” This means, for example, that when an off-duty police officer robs or burglarizes a household, that behavior is not corruption—it is the crime of burglary. Corruption involves only illegal activities engaged in by police officers in the course of their duties and using their position to carry out illegal acts that otherwise could not have been carried out. Generally, police act corruptly when they receive some form of personal benefit for not enforcing the law, or for actively making a violation possible. In American law, police corruption also occurs through extortion, when “property is obtained from another by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right” (18 U.S.C.A. et seq.). Police corruption can also be “receiving or soliciting of anything of value to influence action as an official or in discharge of legal or public duty” (Allen v. State) and “the corrupt tendering or receiving of a price for official action” (State v. London). In this entry, the focus is on police corruption involving an officer's failure to act when he or she has a responsibility to act but doesn't do so because of a payoff or some other reward. This focus includes common forms of corruption such as extortion for personal gain; colluding with organized crime syndicates, drug dealers, and politicians to perpetrate illegal activities; and aiding and abetting prostitutes, gamblers, and after-hours bars.