Week 5 Project: Corruption

For this assignment, you have been contracted to assist an urban police department improve its ethical performance. Your task is to provide police leadership with background and guidance on the following topics. 

• Describe how organizations can become corrupt, using Trautman’s “corruption continuum” as a guide. Explain how organizational incentives such as COMPSTAT can influence organizational corruption.
• Discuss Bandura’s explanation of the influence of co-workers on individual behavior and explain how this topic relates to police supervision.
• Explain the “continuum of compromise” as it relates to individual police misconduct, including how it might help supervisors recognize warning signs. Include the concept of “means–end” thinking in your review.
• Describe Bandura’s definition of self-regulation and describe how aspects of the law enforcement job can cause one to turn away from self-regulation.
• Last, considering that police agencies are nearly evenly-split on the topic of gratuities, determine whether you would recommend a policy that forbids patrol officers from accepting gratuities. Support your position with reasoning and research.