Brutality,
To protect and serve OURSELVES
Police Corruption and brutality has led many people to wonder the police are friends or foes. Police have been engaging in brutal and corrupt activities for the longest of time. During the Political Era of policing, corruption and brutality was the culture of the police departments. Unfortunately that still hasn't changed today. Police officers are steady engaging in corrupt activities for personal gain. There has been unlawful acts of brutality and social injustices. My question is can it stop? The answer is simply no. Police officers can extort people, accept bribes and gratuities. These a ways that our neighborhood "friends" abuse their power for personal gain.
Police corruption carries high costs. Corruption is a criminal act and police corruption detracts from the integrity of the police and tarnishes the public image of law enforcement. Also corruption protects other criminal activity such as drug dealing and prostitution. Protected criminal activities are often lucrative sources of income for organized crime. Police know these risks but continue to act in this manner. That is because they have protection of the law and members of the department. These people are the rotten apples.
Before I end my blog i would like to point out the most corrupt agencies in the United States. The NYPD, LAPD, CPD. These are all departments I saw as movie or TV depictions. This is sad, the major cities in the US have no control through the police. These officers no longer believe in protecting and serving. They care about protecting and serving themselves. However there is a way to regulate these corrupt officials and that is by means of Internal Affairs. These members have caught many officers who have decided to be on the opposite side of the law in which they are enforcing. The only thing to do is continue to seek out corrupt officers because professional training obviously has no effect.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-09-18/news/0909170839_1_police-corruption-police-officers-chicago-police-departmenthttp://articles.chicagotribune.com/keyword/police-corruptionhttp://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Police-Corruption.topicArticleId-10065,articleId-9979.html
Unfortunately I have to completely disagree with this blog. Policing is the United States is actually some of the best policing around. Corruption is around, but it is not running rampant through the streets. If I were a police officer I would find this very disheartening that someone would actually believe this way. Europe and Asian countries still have a lot of issues with corruption because of their lack of pay. In the United States police officers actually generally get high pay and extremely good benefits. I can't argue that CPD is corrupt, but I definitely don't agree that movies and tv are a good source of how departments actually run. Since the political era I definitely think that policing has come a long way. There will of course always be the exception to the rules but there definitely isn't a full blown corruption all across the United States.
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic; however, I do not completely agree with the extreme that you have taken the corruption issue too. Of course there is some corruption within police; there is corruption with insurance agencies, banks, and hospitals as well. There is always going to be a risk of corruption when dealing with humans. I feel that with the most modern police professionalism eras law enforcement corruption is down considerable. officer's are still honoring the "blue shield" or "brotherhood" within police departments but I feel there are very few officer's who stand for corruption. You mention LAPD, NYD, and CPD as corrupt law enforcement agencies because you have seen it in movies but that it not an accurate depiction of how those law enforcement agencies truly function. Obviously due to statistics they have a higher risk of corruption than areas like bloomington and normal due but I do not feel they are the poster children for corruption just because they have movies based around them.
ReplyDeleteAaron makes a good point. There is corruption in some police agencies and departments, but there is not as much as most people think there is. There have been many steps taken to make sure that corruption is lessened and also to help protect the officer in case of lawsuits. An example would be using recording devices or dash cams while making traffic stops. Also, I've been told by a mechanic for the city of Champaign that works on squad cars that they have a new feature. When the officer turns the lights on, the camera automatically records the previous 30 seconds prior to the lights going on to see why the officer was pulling the car over.
ReplyDeleteI have to completely disagree with this blog as well. To use movies and tv shows as a source for police corruption is a joke and as a student of higher education as well as a CJ major, that is unacceptable. Let's try and break away from the old social stigmas of police corruption that we saw in the early 1900's. As Katie pointed out, we have some of the best and LEAST corrupt police in the world. Is corruption out there? Of course, but to say that it's on the level you're proposing is a ridiculous claim.
ReplyDeleteScott, I've never heard of that camera feature you mentioned but I think that's a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
I dont feel that the corruption is as big as a problem as this post makes it seem. as you said in your closing paragraph how the NYPD,CPD & LAPD are the most corrupt these are also huge departments and what is being shown is what the media wants us to see. we cant let these few bad apples paint a picture of widespread police corruption.
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