Police corruption

Police corruption is a form of police misconduct in which law enforcement officers end up breaking their political contract and abusing their power for personal gain. This type of corruption may involve one or a group of officers. Internal police corruption is a challenge to public trust, cohesion of departmental policies, human rights and legal violations involving serious consequences. Police corruption can take many forms, such as: bribery, theft, sexual assault, and discrimination.

Mohamed Mustapha Tabet (Arabic: محمد مصطفى طابت, 1949 – September 5, 1993), known by his nickname Hajj Hamid (Arabic: حاج حميد) or Hajj Tabet (Arabic: الحاج ثابت), was a Moroccan serial rapist and former police commissioner who was allegedly involved in the kidnapping, rapes and assaults of more than 518 women in his Casablanca apartment from 1986 to 1993. The case became one of the most egregious examples of police corruption and sexual abuse in the country, as Tabet used his status to dismiss and cover-up evidence of his crimes. He was eventually be convicted and sentenced to death in March, 1993 and subsequently executed by firing squad the following September in 1993, after spending approximately 6 months on death row.

Derek Ridgewell was a former British Transport Police officer who was involved with a series of arrests followed by court cases in which it was later found that he had framed innocent people, and was eventually jailed for mail theft. Several of those convicted by courts based on Ridgewell's false testimony, including the Oval Four and the Stockwell Six, had their convictions quashed decades later. Ridgewell died in prison in 1982.

Police misconduct is inappropriate conduct and illegal actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Types of misconduct include among others: sexual offences, coerced false confession, intimidation, false arrest, false imprisonment, falsification of evidence, spoliation of evidence, police perjury, witness tampering, police brutality, police corruption, racial profiling, unwarranted surveillance, unwarranted searches, and unwarranted seizure of property.

Internal affairs (often known as IA) is a division of a law enforcement agency that investigates incidents and possible suspicions of criminal and professional misconduct attributed to members of the parent force. It is thus a mechanism of limited self-governance, "a police force policing itself". The names used by internal affairs divisions vary between agencies and jurisdictions; for example, they may be known as the internal investigations division (usually referred to as IID), professional standards or responsibility, inspector or inspectorate general, internal review board, or similar.

The La Vergne, Tennessee police department sex scandal was a 2023 incident that took place at a La Vergne, Tennessee police station that was hit with allegations of sexual misconduct, after a married female officer, Officer Maegan Hall, allegedly had sex with six male police officers, including on-duty liaisons, according to reports.