ody to investigate allegations of corruption. Fred Broughton, the federation's chairman, said: "The recent comments by the commissioner [Sir Paul Condon] and several other chief constables that they cannot deal with dishonesty and corruption in their forces is a time bomb which, as it ticks, is draining away public confidence in our police service" (Welch, p 13). These conflicting opinions are exactly what is stopping the criminal justice system from cracking down and finally doing something to put a stop to a problem that is not only occurring in our country but in many others as well.A few hypotheses as to why police corruption occurs are The Society-at-Large Explanation, The Structural Explanation, and The Rotten Apple Explanation. The Society-at-Large Explanation comes from O.W. Wilson. His hypotheses said that an acceptance of small payoffs and bribes extend into more serious crimes. Wilson called this progression The Slippery Slope hypotheses, that corruption begins with harmless intentions and leads, that eventually lead into more serious crimes for more profit. The Structural Explanation comes from Arthur Niederhoffer. His hypothesis is a step by step progress that results from the differences of police officers beliefs, values, and norms. Police officers are said to develop an attitude in which they view corruption as a game in which every person is out to get a share. The Bad or Rotten Apple view is the most popular explanation of police corruption. This says an honest department usually has a few bad officers who are operating on their own. Corruption is the result of moral failure of just a few officers, but it spreads, coming from a saying “one rotten apple spoils the rest of the barrel.”If the police are to deal effectively with the problem of police corruption, they must recognize and understand what it is and how it happens. There are a number of factors that contribute to police corruption, but t...
