Corruption In Law Enforcement Essay

493 Words2 Pages

I personally think corruption within law enforcement is the biggest ethical problem we're facing today. More and more police officers are getting arrested for stealing here lately. One good example is what happened last year in Cherryville, North Carolina. Four law enforcement officers were arrested and charged with conspiracy to transport and/or receive stolen property, four counts each of transportation of stolen property, one count of conspiracy to extort under color of official right, one count of money laundering conspiracy, four counts of money laundering and aiding and abetting, and three counts of possession of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence (Troop, 2012). The police officers helped criminals get tractor trailers filed …show more content…

The only true way to make them think harder before committing a crime is making the punishment harsher for law enforcement officer if they breaking the law. For an example, instead of giving them leave with pay, take their pay. If they're being investigated for a crime, they don't deserve the money. If it comes to show they didn't actually commit the crime they are being investigated for, pay them after the investigation is complete. What if after the investigation is complete and it shows that the police officer did commit the crime? We basically paid them for doing something wrong and that isn't right. Granted, yes, they have bills and everything else but they should have thought about that before committing a crime. As far as harsher punishment – let's say a 'normal' person robs a person and takes their drugs and gets caught. They normally get charged with robbery (armed robbery if they used a weapon) and possession of the drugs. Say this 'normal' person gets five years in prison for an example, I think if a law enforcement officer that was sworn in to protect us, should get more years than the 'normal' did. Why? Because law enforcement officers are supposed to protect the community and do right by the agency’s code of ethics. I personally think law enforcement officers should get harsher punishment than citizens. Then maybe they would think twice about committing a crime even though the same could be said about