Rodriguez 1

James Rodriguez

Professor Moore

English 1302

March 31, 2018

Enforcing corruption

Police officers are meant to protect civilians and property and yet there are officers that

do not abide by these rules. It is often thought that police officers who are found guilty of

committing crimes or abusing their power are relived of duty, however multiple cases have rose

through the years where police officers who commit crimes are reinstated, “In the District,

an officer convicted of sexually abusing a young woman in his patrol car was ordered returned to

the force in 2015.” (Kelly). The New York Daily news reported how many officers their city was

being reinstated, “More than 300 NYPD employees who could have been fired for lying,

cheating or roughing up New Yorkers got to keep their jobs, according to a new report.”

(Rayman). The officers who are being reinstated are abusing the system, however by making

changes to how the system works and reinforcing the practice of recording incidents can reduce

corruption within police departments.

The first problem is officers who abuse their power and harm civilians. To ensure police

officers do not use excessive force is to implement worn body cams when on duty. Results of the

Rialto experiment, “The study, conducted in the small jurisdiction of Rialto, California, with just

over fifty frontline officers, compared nearly 500 police shifts in which all police– public

encounters were assigned to treatment conditions and an equal number of police shifts to control

conditions.”, proved body cams effectively reduced excessive force incidents. Body cams have

the potential to improve both safety for the police officers who wear them and the civilians that
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are being investigated. Cases like Marcus Jeter who was beaten and accused of assaulting an

officer could have been prevent if the officers were wearing body cams as it was only until

footage from a dashcam within the officer’s cruiser showed how Marcus was beaten for no

reason. A theory that body cams makes police officers think about what they are doing could

prove to be effective in practice, “Deterrence and self-awareness theories suggest that people

alter their behavior once made aware that they are being observed.” (Ariel) Having all incidents

being recorded can be used to help defend innocent officers if they are accused of using

excessive force. The same goes for innocent civilians when arrest rates dropped during an

experiment of body cameras being worn, “We found support for the claim that the use of BWCs

had an effect on arrests. Our findings suggest that the odds for an arrest were about 18% higher

under no-camera conditions. If these estimates are reliable, we can conclude BWCs do not cause

net-widening but rather a diversion of encounters that might have led to arrest into alternatives to

arrests.” (Ariel). Use of body cams is to not only deter criminal acts by police but also can be

used in court, “A recent survey of prosecutors confirms this: ninety-six percent of prosecutors

said that video evidence improved their ability to prosecute cases.” (Harvard Law Review). The

footage caught by body cams can help decided and prove the accused innocent or guilty. What is

most important is rebuilding trust between officers and the public. With news outlets reporting a

negative image of officer’s, body cams could show them in a new light, “Taken all together, the

preceding benefits may lead to improved relations between the police and the communities they

serve, assuming body cameras do in fact result in more respectful officer behavior and the

disciplining of those officers who abuse their power. Especially if citizens are able to request

footage of their encounters with the police, or if departments willingly release footage of

disputed incidents, the current climate of distrust may improve.” (Harvard Law Review). By
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showing the effect body cams have on an officer’s judgment, communities can start to believe

they are safer when police officers wear body cams within them.

Although bodycams have many beneficial uses there are still some problems that arise

with new technology. Officers may be forced to wear the body cams however they still have the

ability to turn them off at any time preventing corrupt cops being caught on camera as stated,

“But once the locus of control shifts to the officers, the very organization meant to be held

accountable will be able to prevent these videos from being created in the first instance or shared

after the fact” (Harvard Law Review). Examples have already occurred where officers fail to

record incidents occurring such as, “a New Orleans police officer shot “[an] unarmed black man

while trying to take him into custody.” The victim, Armand Bennet, spent four days in the

intensive care unit and needed staples to treat the wound on his forehead. The officer had been

wearing a body camera, but she had “apparently shut off her camera prior to the encounter.””

(Harvard Law Review). Releasing footage could prove to be another problem as it may not be

available for public access stated as, “Many police departments currently do not allow private

individuals or the media to access footage, and the open-records laws in most states make it

possible for departments to deny access indefinitely.” (Harvard Law Review). For these

instances policies must be updated and changed to allow such tapes to be handled by a third

party other than the police department and allowing them to be used for public use when

necessary. Implement a policy among police departments that requires all on duty officers to

constantly record until they finish their patrols. Creating repercussions for not recording will

need to be made as well to help enforce Police officers follow the new policies.

Among changing policies for body cams changing policies regarding who prosecutes

police officers must change. Prosecutors tend to have the most power in a court and a conflict of
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interest arises with police officers who are charged with felonies. The problem is the local

prosecutors that police work with are the same ones that that prosecute police defendants is in

question, “A number of scholars have also commented on whether local prosecutors should bring

charges and lead cases against their closest professional allies.” (Levine). The conflict of interest

leaves the possibility of letting the officer off with little to none repercussions, another issue with

police officers getting off easy is that they may be eligible to return to work as an officer. If an

officer’s charges are not followed up on their lawyer could find reason for them to return to a

police department, “In many cases, the underlying misconduct was undisputed, but arbitrators

often concluded that the firings were unjustified because departments had been too harsh, missed

deadlines, lacked sufficient evidence or failed to interview witnesses.” (Kelly). This creates a

poor dynamic between the police chief and their subordinates at a police department. The reason

that the relived officers can return could be a problem with the agencies that are in charge of

them, “Yet police agencies sometimes sabotage their own attempts to shed troubled officers by

making procedural mistakes.” (Kelly). These mistakes are what lead to corrupt police officers

returning to duty even if it is against the police chiefs decision, “The result is that police chiefs

have booted hundreds of officers they have deemed unfit to be in their ranks, only to be

compelled to take them back and return them to the streets with guns and badges.” (Kelly). These

events tend to go unnoticed because of lack of coverage. Even if an example of a corrupt officer

being reinstated becomes controversial the coverage eventually dies down. Because of mistakes

made by police agencies they allow corruption to thrive within police departments such as, “One

officer, convicted of assault after he was caught on video attacking a shoe store employee, was

fired in 2015 and reinstated in 2016 after an arbitrator concluded that police had missed the

deadline by seven days, arbitration records show.” (Kelly). Disagreement between police chiefs
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and unions during controversial events is what causes the unions to fend for the police officers

who were fired. The effect of having these police officers returning to service causes more

backlash upon these departments even if it is against the other officers or public opinion such as,

“Local police departments have often been criticized in recent years as not holding their officers

accountable in fatal shootings, or in cases of brutality and corruption.” (Kelly).

Corruption within police departments exist only because they are allowed to exist. If a

change in policy to enforce police to wear bodycams while on duty without the ability to turn

them off would increase a change in police brutality. Then to give a non-biased third-party the

footage collected on body cams they can ensure factual evidence for a court. To make charges

fair against policemen ensure the prosecutor has no relation to the officer in question. Lastly

prevent corrupt officers from returning to the streets with a badge in hand by revoking police

agencies ability to reinstate officers the chief of police deemed unfit for service. Although many

issues exist weeding out corrupt cops are necessary to ensure a safe community that respects and

trusts its police departments.

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Works Cited

ARIEL, BARAK. "Police Body Cameras in Large Police Departments." Journal of Criminal

Law & Criminology, vol. 106, no. 4, Fall2016, pp. 729-768. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lgh&AN=123118420&site=ehost-live.

Accessed March 31, 2018

"Considering Police Body Cameras." Harvard Law Review, vol. 128, no. 6, Apr. 2015, pp. 1794-

1817. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=102118314&site=ehost-live.

Accessed March 31, 2018

Fan, Mary D. "Missing Police Body Camera Videos: Remedies, Evidentiary Fairness, and

Automatic Activation." Georgia Law Review, vol. 52, no. 1, Fall2017, pp. 57-108.

EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=128737618&site=ehost-live.

Accessed March 31, 2018

Kelly, Kimbriell. “Police Chiefs Are Often Forced to Put Officers Fired for Misconduct Back on

the Streets.” The Washington Post, WP Company,

www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/investigations/police-fired-

rehired/?utm_term=.92df7536c8db. Accessed March 31, 2018

Levine, Kate. "Who Shouldn't Prosecute the Police." Iowa Law Review, vol. 101, no. 4, May

2016, pp. 1447-1496. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=115473557&site=ehost-live.

Accessed March 31, 2018

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Rayman, Graham. “319 NYPD Cops Keep Jobs despite Deceiving, Assaulting New

Yorkers.” NY Daily News, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, 5 Mar. 2018,

www.nydailynews.com/new-york/319-nypd-cops-jobs-deceiving-assaulting-new-

yorkers-article-1.3857239. Accessed March 31, 2018