The term, Police Corruption refers to misuse of authority by policemen in order to gain some personal benefits. When Police officials accept money or any other favors from law violators for not enforcing or distorting the law, their dishonest act falls in the category of police corruption. Police corruption creates a number of other complicacies in the society as it is directly associated to law and order. This paper intends to discuss police corruption, its causes, and some necessary steps to rein in police corruption along with other related aspects of the subject matter.
Police corruption is not a new problem that we are facing today and it exists since the inception of police force to maintain law and order in our society. Police corruption is more or less a global problem and almost every society, across the world, suffers from this problem. Police corruption is found in several forms and affects the society in more than a few ways. It weakens the law and order situation and further spreads a wrong message among people in regard of following law of the land. People start thinking that violating law is not a big deal and even if they are caught doing something illegal; they can easily manage the situation by bribing police officers (Ross, 2012).
Idea of Rotten apple suggests that corruption in police is done by some officials and not everyone is corrupt but corruption of few certainly inspires others to make money by manipulating their position. Brave policemen have proved their competence in several incidents that suggests their importance and devotion towards their duty and law but simultaneously there are a number of incidents where police was found misusing their power. Sheer abuse of authority in innumerable incidents has painted an erroneous image of police across the world and sometimes honest officials also suffer because of the ill repute of department.
It has been observed that usually People do not want to involve in corruption but there are some reasons that compel them to become corrupt. Though corruption in police is found in almost all the nations but the reasons of corruption may vary from a country to another but some major reasons are more or less same in every society (Ross, 2012). Illiteracy is a major reason that keeps this problem alive in the societies where people are illiterate or are not aware about their rights and laws. When a corrupt police official grabs such person, he has no any other way but to pay him money in order to avoid unnecessary hassles (Ivkovic, 2005).
Like other People of the society, policemen also have become greedy. Nobody is satisfied with his salary, everybody wants more and in order to fulfill growing demands, policemen do not hesitate from doing any wrongs. Policemen and their family members also aspire to avail all the luxuries that other sections of society have and in order to fulfill growing desires, they start taking money from people by misusing their power. Politicians, across the world, misuse public funds and in this course, police needs to be managed (Prenzler, 2009). Police also gets a fair share in the organized corruption and they are habituated of this easy money. Greediness exists in every society of the world and so exists the corruption.
Poverty and lack of salary in some countries also compel policemen to indulge in activities of corruption. Growing price rise in recent times have made things extremely shoddier for policemen especially with lower ranks. Policemen at lower positions work very hard but do not bigger salaries like their bosses or senior cops. They, in order to fulfill their needs and needs of the family members, start making money by misusing the authority and indulge in corrupt practices.
Since the issue of corruption is a global problem, some more effective steps are required to be taken and it needs to be addressed with more sincerity. People should be made aware of their rights and laws in order to minimize and end corruption. Police officials often misuse their powers because people do not want to indulge in unnecessary and lengthy legal proceedings and fearing such proceedings, they pay money. Effective steps are required to be taken to educate people about legal proceedings and their rights (Ivkovic, 2005).
Effective steps are required to monitor police officials and especially those who are at responsible positions. Police officials who have been found guilty of taking bribes or were indulged ever in corrupt practices should not be given significant responsibilities. All the efforts should be made to punish corrupt police officials because they easily manipulate and escape from the punishment (Prenzler, 2009).
After having a succinct discussion on the above mentioned subject, it can be concluded that police corruption is a big evil in every society across the world. It causes several other disorders in the society and some very effective steps are required to be taken in order to rein in this evil.
References
Ivkovic, S. K. (2005). Fallen Blue Knights : Controlling Police Corruption: Controlling Police Corruption. New York: Oxford University Press.
Prenzler, T. (2009). Police Corruption: Preventing Misconduct and Maintaining Integrity. USA: CRC Press.
Ross, J. (2012). Policing Issues: Challenges & Controversies. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
