Police corruption is a problem that has and will continue to affect us all, whether we are civilian or law enforcement officers. An examination of any newspapers or police-related publications on any given day will have an article about an officer that got busted committing some kind of illegal act.
Since its beginnings, many aspects of it have changed, however, a lot of it remains and it seems to just keep growing. Even though being a policeman is one of the most commendable and honorable professions in society, there have been certain instances that demonstrate misconduct and corruption in terms of unethical violence, illegal drug abuse, bribery and unjustified arrests.The infamous beating of Rodney King in 1991 and the death of Sean Bell in 2006 are two most explicit examples of police officers stooping down to unethical violence and using excessive force as a means of enforcing the law. Police officers have been put on trial numerous times in history for using such excessive force or taking action without having enough supporting evidence. The 8th amendment of the Bill of Rights protects civilians from such cruel and unusual punishment. Officers are allowed to use force only if a suspect is refusing arrest.
Police brutality results in the destruction of the communities trust. Police officers are the portrait of protectors and if they are displaying such violence themselves then who would the public trust? Who would they turn to when they need help?In a TV interview with Eyewitness News, Officer Adil Polanco of the NYPD stated how officers are making arrests and stopping citizens just to maintain a quota to show that the police department has a tight grip on the crime rate. Officer Polanco also told eyewitness news that the monthly quota for NYPD was 20 summonses and 1 arrest. The petrol supervisor of precinct 41 stated in a recording, “Next week you could be 25 and 1, you could be 35 and 1, and guess what? Until you decide to quit this job and become a Pizza Hut deliveryman, this is what you are going to be doing until then. Do we understand each other?” Such quotas are creating an incentive to violate people’s rights and cause more arrests to be made.Some use the brass badges of reminders of their duty to save lives and protect citizens whereas other use it as an excuse to protect themselves.
Officers in the recent past have been reported for stealing money from dealers and distributing drugs within themselves. The number of cops caught using drugs in 2005 jumped 138 percent, from eight incidents the previous year to 19, including one cop using phencyclidine, and another shooting steroids in himself. In 2009, NYPD police officer Jerry Bowens and Sgt. Michael Arenella were charged with stealing crack off a drug suspect and giving cash and crack to an informant. In early 2010, Mariem Megalla, a technician in the NYPD’s forensics lab was also caught for falsifying drug test results. The way to solve this problem comes from either ideal system of nobility or by showing a display of corruption being intolerable and quickly unveiled from the inside.
Between 1994 and 2006, suspected police corruption and misconduct more than tripled, rising from 14,789 to 44,994. In just 2005 alone, there was a 25% increase in the number of officers that were arrested. Over the years, police departments have been praised and honored for many acts of heroism, however, there are unfortunately some officers that give the citizens a false image of the law enforcements by their illegal acts.
