Police

Police

Law Enforcement has been around since the beginning of man. The Code of Hammurabi, a book of 282 different codes, which specifically spelled out punishments for crimes, was followed back as early as 1700 B.C. (Geo Quest, Current Events, 00113492, 10/28/2005, Vol. 105, Issue 8) In the Bible's story of Adam and Eve, God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden as a punishment for breaking the rules. (The Holy Bible: Genesis Ch.3) These types of historical records display the fact that law enforcers have always existed. Just as law enforcers have always existed, so have ethical issues surrounding the authority exercised by these individuals. Police corruption is a problem that has always existed.

There are several factors that can explain the reason for police corruption. First, law enforcement officers work in a somewhat unsupervised work environment. Although police officers do have supervisors, when they are in the field, they are left somewhat unmonitored. Police discretion is commonly considered one of the greatest powers, if not the greatest power in the criminal justice system. Even greater than the discretion of a judge, police officers can literally