Definition Essay

Roberto Moreno
Instructor: Joel Murphy
Eng. 51 Sect. 1451
Due on 4/18/2009
Police Corruption Cycle
The lust that power can bring is irresistible for most people. A simple person with a minimal education level is usually never given the opportunity to experience power at any level in their lifetime. But in the position of a cop, power is exactly the situation encountered. The police corruption cycle is dictated by the human influence element.
Corrupt cops don’t start off their careers being bad. It’s a series of bad decisions that spin out of control, until they can’t recognize themselves from doing right or wrong. Bad cops believe it’s difficult or impossible to make the right decisions during the scope of their job and still be effective in the performance of their daily duties. Good decisions aren’t only the correct way to conduct business in law enforcement, but they’re expected of. Cops are entrusted highly by the public they serve and vested with great powers to perform their duties effectively and properly.
Mayes, D. Clayton. Director of the College of the Desert- Public Safety Academy says, “The corruption cycle begins with the most simple of choices a cop can make that doesn’t seem to be an issue. The smallest unethical decisions can snowball into a serious corruption scandal.” This is a good catch, to simplify the complex corruption issue. Rafael Perez, Ex-LAPD cop says, “The lines between right and wrong became fuzzy and indistinct….My job became an intoxicant that I lusted after…I can only say that I succumbed to the seduction of power….Used wrongfully it is a power that can bend the will of a man to satisfy a lustful moment…The moment you cross that first line, it will be impossible to step back.” This came from the most corrupt cop in the LAPD’s history and sounds like it is very accurate considering he fell into the corruption cycle trap.
Police corruption must always take into consideration the human influence element. Each individual’s past life experiences, which create their own moral and ethical foundation. Once that foundation is learned from the individual, then an expert opinion can be made about the bad actions committed by the corrupt cop. Not using the corrupt cop’s past life experience as an excuse for doing wrong, but to better understand why the bad decisions were made.
The experts make good points with their opinions. This is a complicated subject that hasn’t done justice, when its been over simplified. However, if cops live their lives in a respectable way and conduct themselves properly then pitfalls that the corruption cycle throws at individual cops, will be a non issue. It’s a nice idea but is it really achievable for people whom live in our society?
Corruption seems to be as simple as black and white on the surface. But it has lots of grey areas because outside influences are very powerful, like: sex, money, friendship, drugs and alcohol. All of these influences can help in forcing a cops hand toward making a bad decision and then continue with nothing but bad decisions. The once good cop ends up believing that bad decisions will be justified with a good outcome. The now corrupt cop is always surprised when it all turns bad and the shit hits the fan after the truth of their wrong doing comes to light. Then suddenly the corrupt cop realizes that although they were very powerful, they were never untouchable.