This paper examines police corruption as a serious societal problem, analyzing its primary forms and proposing actionable solutions. The paper identifies five major categories of corrupt behavior—opportunistic theft, protection of illegal activities, corruption of authority, direct criminal activities, and sabotaging criminal cases—and explores their prevalence in both the United States and internationally, with particular attention to countries such as Nigeria and South Africa. It argues that underfunding, low officer salaries, weak legislation, and eroding public trust are root causes of corruption. Proposed remedies include stronger legislation with meaningful penalties, improved officer compensation, public education campaigns, and widespread recording of police activity. A literature review synthesizes current research on organizational justice, managerial practices, and accountability frameworks.
The paper demonstrates effective use of a problem-solution structure reinforced by a literature review. Rather than treating the literature review as a standalone appendix, the author weaves each source's findings into a running argument, showing how organizational justice, managerial fairness, and government accountability interact to either promote or inhibit police corruption. This integrative approach strengthens the paper's policy recommendations.
The paper opens with an introduction establishing scope and international context, followed by a typology section covering five distinct forms of corruption. A solutions section addresses four remedies—legislation, remuneration, public sensitization, and recording. The literature review synthesizes seven peer-reviewed sources. The paper closes with a summary that recaps both the problem and the proposed solutions. This five-part structure is well-suited to an undergraduate policy analysis paper.
Police corruption exists, and reports of problems arising from it are becoming more and more apparent in the news. Officers have been reported using excessive violence to the point of killing the people they detain. Some have been accused of raping incapacitated women and lying about misconduct. Recent cases have included a police officer who stated on camera that he would not follow the Constitution. News of police corruption is reaching a peak, as most news cycles include some account of a crooked officer. When examining policing in other countries — primarily on the African continent — police corruption reaches an even higher level, with such acts occurring more frequently and in greater volume. The governments of those nations have limited control not only over their populations, but in some cases over their armies and police forces as well.
What can be done to solve such a dilemma? Can there be solutions both domestically, in the United States, and internationally? The first step is to identify the kinds of police corruption that are most prevalent. Once identified, solutions can be devised to curb the behavior and prevent future recurrences. After all, the central mission of the police is to protect citizens and abide by the law. If police forces become corrupt and officers willingly choose to disobey the law, that can spell serious trouble for a country's citizens and can lead to escalation in violence and crime, as seen in many developing nations. Furthermore, renegade militias generated by citizens seeking to protect themselves from corrupt police forces already exist in countries such as Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, spelling potential trouble for nations like the United States and Mexico that are experiencing increasing police corruption.
Police venality encompasses acts of misbehavior intended for the procurement of personal benefits, monetary gain, or career advancement, implemented in exchange for selectively following — or not following — an arrest or examination (Beggs & Davies, 2009, p. 34). There are numerous forms of police corruption, and one of the most common is the acceptance of bribes in order to overlook the arrest or investigation of particular criminal activities. In the United States, this type of corruption is often seen where organized crime such as prostitution or drug trafficking is concerned. Another frequently observed form of police corruption in the U.S. is the infringement of proper procedure in order to secure a guilty verdict against a suspect — often accomplished by falsifying evidence. In sporadic cases, police officers participate directly in criminal activities (Einstein & Amir, 2003, p. 56).
From an international perspective, police in Africa also accept bribes and falsify evidence, and are even prone to violence, including sexual violence, at a much larger scale than is seen in the United States. Women who report being raped in parts of India and Africa are sometimes ignored or arrested, particularly in countries where women's freedoms are severely restricted. Because the governments of some of these regions do not exercise strong control over police activity, illegal activities by officers are frequently overlooked. This is less often the case in the United States, thanks to news coverage and public outcry, but on some occasions police corruption is still overlooked, as in the case of questionable "accidental" shootings of suspects.
Some government officials and public voices have argued that police corruption in the United States is worsening — and may eventually become as severe as in parts of Africa — due in part to the lack of meaningful punishment and fines for police misconduct. Officers are rarely arrested, fined, or even fired for killing innocent people. The absence of effective deterrents only emboldens those already inclined toward corruption, since the fear of getting caught and facing consequences continues to diminish. Most law enforcement organizations do not publish figures on police corruption due to concerns about losing public support (Gottschalk, 2012, p. 175). Nevertheless, it is widely recognized that police corruption is one of the greatest hindrances to combating crime. Combating organized crime becomes especially difficult when officers accept payment to protect criminals. In nations like Mexico, addressing drug trafficking is a grave problem because a significant number of police officers are corrupt and protect the drug lords who pay them.
This paper assesses police corruption, the forms it takes, and suitable recommendations that need to be implemented in order to minimize such behavior and ensure obedience to the law. A brief literature review examines how current law enforcement in the United States and internationally deals with police corruption.
There are several forms of police corruption observed within police forces. Each is discussed below.
Opportunistic theft is a type of police corruption in which officers engage in stealing whenever a situation presents itself (Lee et al., 2013, p. 386). Theft is one of the primary challenges facing law enforcement because it is difficult to prove such crimes in court — evidence is often hard to come by or entirely absent. An example of opportunistic theft may occur when officers recover stolen property or money but intentionally underreport what was recovered in order to keep some of it for themselves. Others may take advantage of accident scenes and steal valuables from the incapacitated or deceased. In some instances, officers take cash or valuables from people they hold in custody. Because witnesses are rarely present, most of these cases are never prosecuted, which encourages further occurrences.
More and more, the rights of individuals are being ignored during arrests — particularly their right to retain personal belongings — making it easier for officers to steal from them. Items such as credit cards or identification can be taken and used for identity theft without the arrestee realizing what happened. In Africa, opportunistic theft is significantly more prevalent than in the United States. The police forces of countries like South Africa and Nigeria — one of the countries with the worst crime rates on the continent — remain willing, even after reform efforts, to steal from citizens and evade prosecution (Aremu, Pakes, & Johnston, 2011, p. 202). Unlike in America, there is little internal supervision or evaluation in many of these forces, so officers get away with the majority of their opportunistic thefts.
The protection of unlawful activities is one of the most serious problems facing reputable law enforcement organizations worldwide. Numerous officers are involved in shielding organized crime, and in many instances such officers hold significant authority, making it even more difficult for junior officers to detain and prosecute wrongdoers. The types of organized crime that thrive under police protection include prostitution, human trafficking, gambling, and drug sales (Einstein & Amir, 2003, p. 78).
Officers are frequently offered financial inducements or other benefits that strain their ethical commitments. In a difficult economy, police officers can be especially susceptible to accepting such arrangements when facing financial hardship caused by budget cutbacks. It is not always about money, however — some officers have been blackmailed into protecting criminal networks to avoid exposure of earlier compromises. Just as with opportunistic theft, protection of illegal activities is difficult to prove in court because organized criminals are adept at concealing their operations, and corrupt officers within the system ensure that incriminating evidence does not surface. This dynamic can result in innocent people being sent to prison based on circumstantial evidence, as corrupt officers and criminals seek scapegoats among innocent bystanders (Lee et al., 2013, p. 386).
This form of corruption involves the acceptance of free gratuities, drinks, and meals from the public. While not necessarily illegal, it can lead to unlawful activities as officers begin to feel they are above the law. This form is particularly difficult to stop because citizens sometimes feel inclined to offer gifts as a gesture of gratitude for police services. Over time, however, officers may feel more inclined to protect those who offer gifts over those who do not (Punch & Gilmour, 2010, pp. 10–12). This dynamic can also open the door to blackmail: a person who gives gifts to an officer may later use those gifts as leverage to coerce the officer into accepting outright bribes or covering up criminal activity. To counter this, several police departments have banned officers from accepting gifts from the public, in hopes of reducing the potential for blackmail.
Police officers, like anyone else, can and do commit crimes. These officers are difficult to catch because they have background knowledge in evidence removal and can directly influence cases against them based on their standing within the department. They are trained in how to handle criminal situations and typically know how to avoid leaving evidence behind. They are also difficult to identify because they often perform criminal activities in plain clothes. Examples of crimes committed by corrupt police include murder, rape, and extortion. There have been cases in which officers provided their weapons and uniforms to criminals in order to facilitate crimes. Internationally, this form of corruption is quite prevalent — particularly in parts of Africa, where officers kill innocent civilians without justifiable cause and participate in drug rings and human trafficking. Although this form of corruption is somewhat easier to detect than others, officers who commit crimes frequently go uncaught and continue their activities for years or even decades.
The tampering of evidence in criminal cases remains a central concern in discussions of police corruption. As noted earlier, police have tampered with evidence to ensure both guilty and not-guilty verdicts, often depending on the influence of the criminal being prosecuted. For instance, a mob boss may pay several officers to destroy evidence linking him to a crime. Those officers then enter the evidence room and remove or alter the materials, leaving a judge with insufficient evidence to convict. Another way officers may impede a criminal case is by simply failing to appear when summoned to a court date, resulting in a suspect being released on a technicality.
Corruption is a complex process involving multiple actions that lead to harmful outcomes. Addressing it effectively requires attention to several underlying factors. In many cases, corruption begins with insufficient pay and resources, which leads to higher rates of bribery and theft as officers try to avoid financial hardship.
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.