Police Deviance and Corruption Quiz

Police Deviance and Corruption

• Police officers are granted significant authority, and power abuse is a serious concern. Abuse violates trust, impacting individual liberties and rights. Examples include planting evidence leading to wrongful convictions, unlawful violence causing injury or death, and theft.
• Public consequences of police misconduct include cynicism, mistrust, and feelings of betrayal, which can then legitimize criminal behavior within the population. It undermines the entire criminal justice system's operation and credibility.
• Police corruption can be individual or systemic. Examples range from accepting free meals or services, demanding kickbacks, and theft of evidence, to shakedowns and protecting illegal activities. This can include accepting bribes to fix cases, involvement in direct criminal activity (drug dealing, burglary, assault), leaking information, and systemic indoctrination early in an officer's career.

Types of Police Deviance

• Corruption:
  • Taking bribes or kickbacks from individuals, businesses (i.e. towing companies), or other parties.
  • Engaging in opportunistic theft: commonly associated with drug arrests but applicable to other situations.
  • Participating in shakedowns: extorting money through threats or accepting bribes to ignore laws; includes sexual favors.
  • Protecting illegal activities: systemic corruption where officers tolerate and possibly participate in illegal actions.
• Direct Criminal Activities: Officers directly engaging in crimes like drug dealing, burglary, or sexual assault.
• Selling Information: Sharing sensitive information with criminals for financial gain.
• Misconduct: In addition to physical violence, also includes the abuse of powers by releasing names of license plate owners to those at protests like those of the abortion clinic.

Factors Contributing to Corruption

• Nature of Police Work:
  • Discretionary power: often in situations with limited visibility.
  • Frequent contact with criminals: financial incentives.
  • Some police activities; protecting informants can involve condoning or hiding criminal behavior.
• Subculture:
  • Secrecy, loyalty, and solidarity within police departments. Attitudes of integrity impacted by different police organizations, thus impacting officers' behaviors.
  • This can provide context for a "noble cause corruption," potentially influenced by factors including intent of officers' actions and the police subculture. This often leads to more difficult convictions.

Discriminatory Policing

• Selective enforcement favoring dominant groups based on race, class, and ethnicity; examples include apartheid in South Africa, and discrimination in U.S. South.
• Discriminatory practices: limiting the rights of minority groups; examples include the use of 'pass laws'.
• Racial profiling/ actions: including "starlight tours" resulting in convictions, and disproportionate stops, with examples including airport screening, traffic stops, and "stop and frisk."
• Studies show disproportionate detentions or arrests of specific racial or ethnic groups, and are also more likely to be detained after arrest. A prominent example is the over and disproportionate use of street checks (carding) against racialized groups, leading to bans in Ontario and Nova Scotia.

Other Types of Police Deviance

• Abuse of Powers: Police misconduct in terms of excessive force or misusing powers.
• Political Involvement:
  • Involvement in political processes (i.e. RCMP commissioner in 2006 federal election).
  • Noble Cause Corruption: acting in what they believe is morally correct, potentially resulting in corrupt actions.
• Internal Factors: Issues like sexual harassment and bullying creating negative working environment, reported in many RCMP cases, resulting in lawsuits.

Illegal Violence

• Reasons for police violence:
  • Misuse of authorized force in ambiguous scenarios.
  • Natural human reaction in stressful situations.
  • Attempts to gain respect or gather intelligence.
  • Punishing individuals thought to avoid legal consequences.
  • The police subculture may support such behaviors.
• Examples including Rodney King event, G20 protests, Ottawa Police Cells, and the case of Dziekanski.

Factors Contributing to Illegal Violence

• The police subculture: fosters secrecy, loyalty, and solidarity, hindering accountability.
• Police organization: varying attitudes towards integrity among different organizations.
• Status and pay (low pay in certain U.S. locales) may be incentives for unlawful behavior.

Controlling Police Deviance

• Internal Controls:
  • Strong leadership and supervision.
  • Ethically-based training and evaluations.
  • Proactive integrity tests.
• External Controls:
  • Special investigations (e.g., Knapp Commission, Braidwood Inquiry).
  • Criminal prosecutions.
  • Community pressure.
  • Civilian oversight.
  • Media scrutiny.
• Oversight needs:
  • National systems needed to investigate police misconduct, addressing issues of conflicts of interest.
  • Issues within the RCMP complaints commission were raised about capacity and practices.

Test your knowledge on police deviance and corruption, exploring the complexities of authority abuse within law enforcement. Understand the implications of misconduct and its effects on public trust and the justice system. This quiz delves into both individual and systemic aspects of police corruption.