Police Process Outline for the lecture Dae-Hoon Kwak Michigan State University CJ 335 Summer 2006 Lecture 15 Police Corruption Define police corruption Identify various types of police corruption Explain levels and theories of police corruption Understand both internal and external corruption control strategies 1 2 Definition of Police Corruption Definition of Police Corruption Concept Baker & Carter s Typology of Police Deviance - Acts involving the misuse of authority by a PO in a manner designed to produce gain for themselves or others - One of the oldest and persistent problems in PDs The Key Elements - Occupational deviance a. Criminal and non-criminal behavior (e.g., corruption) b. Committed during the course of normal work activities c. Include improper behavior that is not illegal (e.g.,, sleeping on the job) - Misuse of authority - Abuse of authority - Personal gain a. No personal gain, b. Injures or insults human dignity c. Violates inherent rights of citizens (e.g., illegal arrest, use of excessive force) 3 4 Cost of Police Corruption Cost of Police Corruption (cont.) Corruption Imposes High Costs to CJ and Society Corruption Imposes High Costs to CJ and Society (cont.) - A corrupt act is a criminal act: undermines basic integrity of LE - Corruption usually protects other criminal activity (e.g., bribes to protect illegal gambling or drug trafficking) - Undermines the effectiveness of the CJ system (e.g., officers routinely testify in court, reputation for dishonesty damages their credibility in criminal cases) - Undermine the professionalism of a PD (e.g., corruption encourage police lying to protect other officers) - Organized corruption may involve a secret tax upon business when police extract bribes - Undermines public confidence in the police 5 6 1
Types of Police Corruption Gratuities Gratuities (cont.) - Most common form of police corruption (e.g., free meals, discounts on other purchases) - Some departments prohibit gratuities, others do not - Mixed motives for business owners a. Represent a thank you to officers for their job b. Other cases (e.g., reflect self-interest, presence of patrol cars near stores serves as a deterrence, expectation that the police will return the favor with extra patrol) - Grass eaters vs. meat eaters a. Grass eaters: those who passively accepted what was offered to them b. Meat eaters: those who aggressively demanded favors - Open the door to more serious forms of corruption, encourage officers to believe they are entitled to special privileges and may lead officers to demand them 7 8 Bribes Theft and Burglary - More serious form of corruption - For not enforcing the law (e.g., officer takes money not to write a traffic ticket, regular payoffs to protect gambling operation(i.e., more systematic form)) - Particularly serious form of corruption a. Officers taking money away from people arrested for drunkenness b. Stealing property, money or drugs from department s property room, money and drugs - Sell information about criminal investigations (e.g., alter testimony ( forgetting information on the witness stand), destroying evidence, revealing important points about a prosecution s case) Internal Corruption - Buying promotions, transfers, or favored assignments with bribes - Some bribes protect illegal activities, other bribes support legitimate businesses 9 10 Levels of Police Corruption Levels of Police Corruption (cont.) Variation among departments Sherman 3 Types of Corruption - Some departments have an occasionally deviant officer - Type I : least serious form - Corruption is systematic in others - Different levels of corruption were identified based on the pervasiveness of corruption,its org., and the sources of bribes a. Rotten apples: few officers independently engaged in corrupt acts b. Rotten pockets: several officers cooperate with one another (e.g., group of officers stealing drugs or money during drug raid) - Measuring corruption is difficult - Type II: higher degree of intensity (pervasive unorganized) a. Covert crime--no victim to complain b. Exposure contingent upon often arbitrary factors (e.g., an aggressive news reporter) a. Majority of personnel is corrupt b. Have little relationship to each other (e.g., officers taking bribes for not issuing traffic tickets-not actively cooperating with one another) 11 12 2
Levels of Police Corruption (cont.) Sherman 3 Types of Corruption (cont.) - Type III : most serious form (pervasive organized corruption) a. Organized level that penetrates higher levels of dept. b. Systematic: shared among all members of a group Theories of Police Corruption Individual Officer Explanations - Most popular explanation of police corruption - Rotten apples theory a. Emphasizes moral failings of individuals b. Provides convenient scapegoats c. Avoids dealing with more difficult issues d. Points in the direction of a simple remedy - Police officials prefer this explanation a. Allows them to blame a few individuals b. Prevents them from investigating larger problems in department c. Can appear to solve problem by firing guilty officers 13 14 Individual Officer Explanations (cont.) Social Structural Explanations - Appeals to private citizens a. Can understand individual guilt better than more complex issues b. Allows them to avoid making connection between corruption and their own illegal activities - Rotten apples theory is inadequate a. Does not account for long history of corruption b. Does not explain why some honest people become corr. c. Does not explain why (i.e., some departments have long history of corruption while others are relatively free of corruption) - Criminal law a. Major cause of police corruption b. State and Federal laws prohibit or seek to regulate: i. many activities people regard as legitimate ii. matters of private choices (e.g., gambling, alcohol..) c. Conflict of culture and lifestyles d. Criminal syndicates - Cultural Conflict: Different groups have used the law to prohibit behavior that offends their values; other groups regard the same behavior as legitimate 15 16 Social Structural Explanations The Nature of Police Work - Local Political Culture a. Level of corruption is influenced by local political culture b. Corruption may occur because it pervades other parts of the government c. Little is known about how political culture affects LE - Police work provides many opportunities to be corrupt a. Constant temptations from people seeking to corrupt officers b. Organized crime syndicates (I.e., enormous financial resources, explains why corruption has been the worst among vice officers) Neighborhood Explanations - Some neighborhoods may influence the deviant patterns of police officers assigned to an area (e.g., a great amount of pop.turnover, poverty, unemployment, racially mixed.. ) - Officers generally work alone or in pairs with little supervision (i.e., low visibility work) - Impact on officer attitudes: officers develop cynical attitude toward people, which can lead to everyone does it attitude 17 18 3
Police Organization - The most important variable is leadership and the quality of management and supervision - Corruption flourishes in departments that tolerate it - Officers are more likely to succumb to corruption if they believe they won t be caught or if caught, the punishment will not be severe - Haarr study a. Officers with low level of org.commitment: more likely to engage in work avoidance and misconduct (e.g., E.F) b. Officers with high level of org.com.: more likely to engage in deviance for the org. (e.g., arrest reports) Police Subculture - This is major fact in both creating corruption, by initiating officers into corrupt activities, and sustaining it, by covering up corrupt activities by other officers - This is in large part a consequence of peer pressure, which is particularly strong among officers - The subculture puts a high value on loyalty and group solidarity (i.e., officers who are not loyal ostracized by other officers) 19 20 Becoming Corrupt Becoming Corrupt (cont.) How POs Become Corrupt How POs Become Corrupt (cont.) - With few exceptions, most officers are honest at the outset of their careers - Moral Careers of a PO (Sherman): Socialization a. Stage 1: start with minor gratuities (e.g., meals), peer pressure, more grass eater type * Most officers never move beyond the first stage - Moral Careers of a PO (Sherman) (cont.) c. Stage 4 to 5: starts to solicit bribes, more serious violation, becomes more systematic, usually involves larger sums of money, more meat eater style d. Stage 5 to 6: regular payoffs (e.g., gambling, drugs..), actively assist in illegal activity (e.g., PO sell drugs), big time aggressive meat eater type b. Stage 2 &3: regulatory or minor offenses (e.g., free drink from bar owner, let bar stay open after hours), peer pressure, if knowledge that other officers are doing same 21 22 Becoming Corrupt (cont.) Controlling Corruption Corrupting Organizations Internal Mechanisms - The concept of a moral careers can occur to a dept. - Stage 1: Corruption involves isolated individuals or few isolated groups - Stage 2 & 3: Virtually all officers are engaged in corrupt acts - Final Stage: Involve pervasive organized corruption, virtually all officers are engaged in systematic arrangements with criminal elements - Attitude of the Chief a. Must make it clear that corruption will not be tolerated b. Risks in taking a strong public stand against corruption - Rules and Regulations a. Clearly defining what actions will not be tolerated b. A line clearly drawn developed by written policies that specify forbidden acts - Managing Anticorruption Investigations (IAU) a. Successful anticorruption effort requires some elements (strong management support (chief), sufficient numbers of personnel) 23 24 4
- Managing Anticorruption Investigations (cont.) b. Some of problems of IAU (e.g., do not want the assignment, regard them as snitches, violates the norms of group solidarity, union contracts) - Investigative Tactics a. Many corruption investigations must be initiated on their own as there are no complaining parties (i.e., victimless) b. The major problem has always been the blue curtain of silence where the refusal of officers to testify against corrupt officers exists c. Successful investigations have often relied on a few corrupted offices who cooperated - Cracking the Blue Curtain a. To crack this curtain, it has been argued that polices that punish officers for failing to report misconduct immediately b. However, policies that punish officers for failing to report misconduct immediately discourage officers from reporting misconduct later, which further serves to reinforce the need for secrecy - Proactive Integrity Tests a. Involves targeting officers who are under suspicion, called directed integrity tests, or the random selection of officers, called randomized integrity tests (e.g., NYPD 1% failed (2,500 POs) 25 26 External Mechanisms - Effective Supervision a. Good first-line supervision is the best way to control deviance (cf. active supervisor style) b. Early warning systems: identify officers with chronic problems, not just designed for punishment, also address problems early in development - Personnel Recruitment a. Effective screening of recruits is an important element in controlling corruption b. Background investigations of job applicants are regarded as an essential part of an effective anticorruption effort (e.g., prior drug history (experimentation, use, or abuse), felony conviction) - Special Investigations a. Advantage: independent of the PD b. Disadv. : lack of intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the org., arouse hostility of rank-and-file officers, refuse to cooperate - Criminal Prosecutions a. Prosecution under state law is one potential remedy but very few officers are seriously punished b. Federal law as federal prosecutors: have fewer ties to local CJ officials (e.g., 10 times more likely to prosecute the case than county prosecutors) c. May not be a long-term remedy 27 28 External Mechanisms (cont.) - Mobilizing Public Opinion: media play important role in shaping public opinion about corruption, often expose corruption and set in motion the reform process, but ignores underlying causes of corruption - Altering the external environment: dept.s not completely at the mercy of external political environment new political environment that was less supportive of corruption - The limits of anti-corruption efforts: rules and regulations are ineffective but limit the capacity of agencies to be creative and flexible in carrying out their basic missions 29 5