NCJ Number
128050
Date Published
1991
Length
37 pages
Annotation
Throughout the history of urban police agencies, urban situations involving vice and its control have presented opportunities for police corruption and posed a challenge to police administrators wanting to limit misconduct without alienating the officers' loyalties.
Abstract
Patterns of vice have changed in recent years with the spread of cocaine use a particularly notable change. These changes and recent cases of police corruption in Boston, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco show the need for measures to reduce or control police corruption. However, efforts to accomplish this goal are complicated by debates over the decriminalization or legalization of vice, the unwillingness of individual police officers or some police agencies to acknowledge the legitimacy of gays and lesbians, public and official ambivalence regarding illegal gambling, the demands of community-based policing, and other factors. Strategies aimed at installing professionalism, high morale, and commitment to innovation are needed. 302 reference notes and 5 study questions