Corruption involves all actions and activities that are considered dishonest or fraudulent which are performed by persons in power. The most common action considered corrupt by people is bribery which is evident in cases where money changes hands in exchange for some kind of favor or unfair consideration. The police department has over the years been marred by frequent incidences of corruption where individuals in power pay the officers in order to bend the rules in their favor. Corruption is a vice so deeply instilled in our community that it requires the collective involvement of both the government and the citizens as a whole in order to get rid of this vice. In the police department, corruption start from the entry level, that is, even to make the cut to join the police department some bribe has to be paid so that one’s spot on the final list of trainees is secured and from there even for mere survival, some favors have to be exchanged (Wrage & Wrage, 2005).
In the police department, corruption can be seen in many forms. Some of the most common forms of corruption are discussed below. The police officers tasked with ensuring restaurants and refreshments establishments have their licenses up to date may receive free meals or drinks from some defaulters in exchange for looking the other way for a given period. This is common in bars and restaurants and is fraudulent as it fleeces the Internal Revenue Authority of its dues. The said officers should report, fine or close down such establishments until such a date as their have duly complied with the set regulations (Weitzer, 2002).
It is within the police job description to offer services to the citizens. That said, it is unbecoming of any police officer to take payment in exchange for any assistance he or she offers to a citizen in any capacity A common example is when a person loses his phone and is asked to pay something to the officer so that the handset or any other item is tracked. These services are supposed to be free of charge and ii deemed corruption on the officer’s part if he/she asks for money to perform such a task (Walker, 2008).
The most common corrupt act in terms of bribery in the police department comes in the form of opportunistic theft. This is a situation where a law enforcer gets any person in the wrong side of the law and instead of booking the individual and writing them a ticket for the particular offence; the police take a small amount of money from the offender and allow them to leave. A good example is when a traffic police officer stops you either for over speeding or any other r traffic offence and you pay him directly so as to be left to go instead of paying at the ticketing office or argue out your case in court. This is considered a mild form of corruption and most of the time is instigated by the citizens themselves (Nuijten & Anders, 2007).