Police Misconduct Essay Example for Free

Police Misconduct Essay Police brutality is the use of excessive force by a police officer. â€Å"Police brutality is a civil rights violation that occurs when a police officer acts with excessive force by using an amount of force with regards to a civilian that is more than necessary† (Police Brutality, 2013). Police corruption is the misuse of authority by a police officer, including a range of actions encompassing an officer’s misuse of his or her authority for personal gain. Police corruption is one kind of police misconduct; however, police misconduct includes any deviant behavior by a police officer including the taking of bribes, and participating in illegal activities such as gambling and prostitution (Grant Terry, Chapter 11, 2008). Some aspects of police brutality, police corruption, and police misconduct go hand-in-hand; for example, police corruption and police brutality are both forms of police misconduct. Some recommendations that I would make to decrease police brutality, police corruption, and police misconduct would include developing clearly written anticorruption and misconduct department policies and procedures and following through with disciplinary actions when those policies are violated; I would also recommend the developing or expanding of department’s internal affairs divisions with a focus on internal corruption and misconduct investigations, as well as increasing the responsibility and authority of non-internal affairs supervisor to take action against corruption and misconduct. References Police Brutality. (2013). In US Legal. Retrieved from http://definitions.uslegal.com/p/police-brutality/ Grant, H.B., Terry, K.J. (2008). Law Enforcement in the 21st Century (2nd ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.