As Americans, we always expect the best. But when it comes to those who serve and protect, we don't pay enough attention. Police officers often abuse their power. In doing so, civilian lives are lost, as are tax dollars. This happens too often. This is called police corruption. Serve and Protect are common words associated with police officers. Some law enforcement officers undermine the honor and integrity of their work. Although it is a serious and real problem, many people don't really know what police corruption is. Police corruption is the illegal use of legitimate authority. Or an illegal abuse of power for personal gain. Police corruption is a serious problem that affects almost every city in the country and around the world. To show you how often this happens, here are some statistics. From January 2010 to June 2010, there were 2,541 reports of police misconduct cited. 3,240 law enforcement officers included in police misconduct reports. 178 Reported law enforcement officers included department heads, police chiefs, and sheriffs. 4,199 Alleged victims of police misconduct associated with these reports. 124 Deaths associated with these reports. On average, 17.9 law enforcement officers were cited in the news for misconduct each day. Approximately $148,512,000 in settlements and judgments related to police misconduct were paid during this period. It had only been six months. The most common type of misconduct is excessive force (23%). 13% of excessive force reports involved deaths, and of those deaths, 60% were caused by firearms. The dirtiest and most hurtful type of corruption is machinations. Framing is a common form of corruption used daily by police officers. A frame-up is when a police officer is in the middle of a paper and receives threats. Preventing corruption is a difficult task, but steps can be taken to prevent it. Another idea to fight corruption is to increase the salaries of officers. The idea of ​​increasing police pay has been around for years and is one of the main ideas to solve this serious problem. The average salary for police officers is around sixty thousand dollars. This price is far too low for the individuals who risk their lives every day for our safety. The salary of police officers should be increased significantly to prevent police officers from accepting bribes or getting involved in criminal activities to make money. This will not be enough to end or solve the problem of police corruption. Other factors need to be considered and addressed to fully resolve this issue. More time spent on training, background checks and mental evaluations would help slow corruption..