Corruption in policing is viewed as the misuse of authority by a police officer acting officially to fulfill his/her personal needs or wants. There are two distinctelements of corruption; 1) misuse of authority, 2) personalattainment. The occupational subculture of policing is amajor factor in both creating police corruption, byinitiating officers into corrupt activities, and sustainingit, by covering up corrupt activities by other officers. Police corruption is a complex phenomenon, which doesnot readily submit to simple analysis. It is a problem thathas and will continue to affect us all, whether we arecivilians or law enforcement officers. Since itsbeginnings, many aspects of policing have changed; however,one aspect that has remained relatively unchanged is theexistence of corruption. Police corruption has increaseddramatically with the illegal cocaine trade, and the officeracting alone or in-groups to steal money from dealer and/ordistribute cocaine themselves. Large groups of corruptpolice officers have been caught in New York, New Orleans,Washington, Dc, and Los Angeles.Corruption within police departments falls into twobasic categories; internal corruption, involvingrelationships among the police within the works of thepolice department (ex: promotions or favored assignments,usually purchased with bribes) and external corruption,which involves police contact with the public. There aremany different forms of corruption; gratuity, involving freemeals, free dry cleaning and discounts; bribery, involvingthe exchange of money or something of value between thepolice and wrong doer (this is very common among narcoticsofficers); theft and Burglary, involving officers stealingproperty, money and/or drugs from the department; andstealing from people under the influence, who essentiallybecome victims of the police. A new form of police corruption developed in the early1980s and into the 1990s, which include brutality,discriminati...
