Police misconduct comprises of the unethical and illegal actions or violations of an individual`s constitutional rights by the law enforcement officers in their line of duty. The actions range from dishonesty, brutality, coercion, fraud, torture to force a confession, sexual assault, abuse of authority, and demanding for sexual favors. Conversely, police corruption involves the abuse of police authority in order to acquire personal gains and it involves profiting or material benefit illegally gained due to the police officer`s authority (Harris, 2014). Police corruption takes the form of extortion, bribery, selling drugs and receiving or fencing stolen goods. An example of police misconduct occurred on September 13th 2015 when Dontrell Stephens was shot and paralyzed. Stephens had been shot by a deputy, Lin, who had tried stopping him after he rode his bicycle into traffic. Through a dash board camera in Lin`s car, it was established that Stephens held a phone in his right hand while his left hand was empty. Lin`s testimony was that Stephens had flashed a dark object with his left hand. Palm Beach County agreed to make $23, 000, 000 payment to settle the lawsuit (Musgrave, 2016).
Cases of police misconduct can be attributed to moral responsibility and disengagement that makes it and lack of the good, caring and ethical core of the police officers makes it possible an officer to act otherwise as can be observed in the above mentioned case. Another concern that can be attributed to the scenario is lack of organizational training in providing nonviolent solutions, minimal consequences of non-violence conduct, and the view that police hold in arguing that misconduct is widely spread within the society. While it is agreeable that a section of the officers who engage themselves in the illegal actions acquire their behavior from the societal setup, most people fail to understand how good police officers become involved in misconduct actions. It is important that law enforcement agencies understand the various dynamics and police environment that influence behavioral change that encourage misconduct and corruption.
Majority of the police officers consider accepting gratuities and taking bribes as a way that can compromise their police duties. The gratuities have the effect of influencing the police officers to spend their time among establishments that offer gratuities. Even though such gratuities often indicate a show of admiration and friendship for the police officers, they can be wrongly used as enticement to take bigger gifts and that is why most police departments discourage taking gratuities.
References
Harris, C. (2014). The onset of police misconduct. Policing: An International Journal of Police
Strategies & Management, 37(2), 285-304.
Musgrave, J., (2016). Jury: PBSO, deputy at fault; should pay Dontrell Stephens $23 million.
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