Module 9: Police Corruption
Lecture and Reflection Question:
Reflection: We discussed corruption as not the result of ‘just a few bad apples’. What are some of the constant and variables causes of corruption that go beyond the ‘bad apple’ explanation? What do these factors have in common? What are some of the solutions to police corruption?
Final (midterm II) question to keep in mind
1. "Policing practices and visibility often influence public perception of security, particularly in urban areas. Using the concepts of 'police visibility,' 'symbolic visibility,' and 'force,' critically assess how police presence impacts both crime prevention and the public's sense of safety in different socio-economic communities. How might this visibility contribute to or detract from the legitimacy of police in these communities? Consider relevant sociological theories, such as Weber’s theory of the state and the relationship between the police and marginalized communities."
2. "Police corruption has been analyzed as more than just a 'few bad apples' problem, reflecting deeper structural issues within law enforcement. Drawing on the theories of police corruption discussed in the course, such as Kleinig's ethical framework and the 'Dirty Harry problem,' critically evaluate the factors that contribute to police corruption. Discuss how these factors might vary between different police departments and social contexts. In your response, explore how the structure of policing, discretionary power, and public expectations shape the prevalence of corruption and the challenges in preventing it."
Lecture 9 Notes: Police Corruption
What is police corruption:
Defining police corruption can be difficult due to many definitions being too broad and overly encompassing. For example, giving a blanket statement like “police corruption can be defined as police acting outside of the parameters of the law” would be a poor definition of police corruption, because police often need to act outside of the law in cases of emergency, via speeding or going through red lights for example.
so maybe we should define police corruption by Kellogg (1997) and say “police officers act corruptly when exercising or failing to exercise their authority; acting with the primary intention of furthering private or departmental gains.”
intention is a key aspect in this. courts often demand of the police to explain the intention behind their actions. this is what differentiates a lot of legal and illegal activities - this is what differentiates bribes and gratitudes (like cops getting a free coffee at a restaurant is not a bribe, but a gratitude due to the intention)
“dirty harry problems” are activities that are corrupt, but not for the gain of the officer but rather the officer does it because they believe it to be right. (using corrupted and unconstitutional means to achieve a good end)
beating up a suspect to get a confession for example
or purgering yourself in court in order to put away a bad guy you know is guilty but do not have enough evidence on.
What causes police corruption:
police corruption is more than just a few bad apples. we see corruption occurring over and over again at all levels of policing across all different departments.
even the few bad apples problem is magnified because of the amount of power police have. a few bad apples become really dangerous when they have a gun.
corruption at the higher level corrupts the rest of the organization and society
low visibility of police increases corruption, both public visibility and managerial visibility.
police look down on internal affairs who police the police. doesn’t this say something? that police view those poorly who police them?
We see more police corruption in disorganized communities that show more anomie. a lot of poorer socio-economic communities see more police corruption.
Currently, it is extremely difficult to fire corrupt police officers and officers who abuse power because of their unions.
Interview: Brian Barrie
Brian says that smaller municipal police and more northern detached OPP officers have greater issues with ethics and just policing
Brian says corruption is systematic and more than just a few bad apples problem.
Brian says that a non-provincial police officer leaked to his client that the force had a tendency to cut corners regarding impaired driving where they would not go properly through the procedures of the criminal code but rather would tell the doctor that they must take a separate sample of blood for the impaired driver. he said they found this happened 4 times before, proving its a systematic issue.
Brian also mentioned how several officers were deemed unreliable in court and likely to have committed criminal code offences by writing out and altering the text in their notebooks to try to incriminate another officer, Fred Patterson.
Brian says that to reduce systematic corruption, we need to better screen our recruits (he says its good that they’re needing post-secondary education now)
he also says there should be courses on ethics for cops and lawyers alike
he also says that until the internal system recognizes its wrong and is changed at the top (to reduce the corrupt culture), reform will prove tough if not impossible.
“you need to get all the dead wood out before we can clean house and start again” - Brian
Documentary: The Seven-Five
Michael Dowd said in court that the integrity training he received was from internal affairs. this is not very independent so corrupt cops are teaching integrity
he also said that him, his other recruits, and the instructors did not treat the integrity training seriously
Michael Dowd said that while he was still in the academy, he was discouraged from following the proper protocol, but rather taught how to cover his ass when he did screw up so he wouldn’t have to deal with internal affairs.
Michael Dowd in court said to be a “good cop”, you have to be a cop that won’t give up other cops, and you have to be 100% behind other cops no matter what
Michael Dowd also said this was necessary as you had to form bonds with other cops in order to survive.
Michael Dowd said he never had a fear of being busted cuz the cops around him would never give him up**********
Michael Dowd convinced the anti crime unit to take some money with him and overlook it, by saying how arduous the process would be to legally confiscate the money
Michael Down took systematic corruption to a whole new level when he received systematic payouts from drug gangs in exchange for their ability to tip off the gangs before a raid would happen.
Mike would catch rival drug dealers and theifs, arrest them, and then hand them over to the drug dealers he was working for where they’d presumably kill them.
Even the person from internal affairs stated that they were having trouble reconciling that Mike Dowd was a perpetrator because he was a cop.
One of the dealers says that the seven-five precinct was corrupt all the way up to the captain with 25-30 cops being confirmed as corrupted.
Michael Dowd said he was shocked with how much he got away with.
one thing mentioned is that investigations regarding police corruption are primarily reactive (primarily relying on complaints) rather than proactive, so they don’t stop corruption before it happens.
this also means that a majority of corrupt acts go undetected and unkown.