Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits and/or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest.

One common form of police corruption is soliciting and/or accepting [bribes] in exchange for not reporting organized drug or prostitution rings or other illegal activities. Another example is police officers flouting the police code of conduct in order to secure convictions of suspects — for example, through the use of falsified evidence. More rarely, police officers may deliberately and systematically participate in organized crime themselves.

In most major cities there are internal affairs sections to investigate suspected police corruption or misconduct. Similar entities include the British Independent Police Complaints Commission.

In the United States

There are numerous reports of police corruption in the U.S., sometimes linked with police brutality. Although extreme cases involve several policemen accepting bribes to avoid arrests or curtail investigations, there are many more subtle forms of corruption. Some forms include:

• planting evidence inside the back seat of a patrol car so that a suspect, once placed in the car for questioning, can be linked to that evidence (even if searched by an unsuspecting 2nd officer);
• following a vehicle extensively to induce a right or left turn without sufficient turn-signal warning, so that the vehicle can be stopped for a traffic violation, allowing "inventory search" of the vehicle, where evidence can be claimed to be "in plain sight";
• continued tailgating of a vehicle to induce speeding over the limit (using the natural reaction of a driver to increase speed to separate from a car following too close behind);
• luring a person outside their home, to become agitated, as grounds for arrest, in public, due to "disorderly conduct" (one of the easiest charges for arrest);
• unlocking a parked, out-of-town vehicle (such as with an out-of-state license tag) to confiscate any hidden cash or other unnumbered valuables.

There are many other forms of police corruption as well.

See also

People

Topics

External links

• Citizens Against Bad Law Enforcement
• Community Legal Agent Societal Services