Within our American policing system, there are gaps and loopholes that give leeway to police officers who abuse the authority given to them or do not represent not the ethical standards they are supposed to uphold. until. Due to the nature of police work, there is a risk of deterioration of these ethical and moral standards through deviance, misconduct, corruption and favoritism. Although these standards are in place, many police officers are not held accountable for their actions and can easily get away with the mistreatment of others. While not all police officers abuse their power, the increasing percentage of them poses a problem that needs to be recognized by the public as well as leaders of police departments across the country. Police officers abuse their power and authority through three types of misconduct known as malfeasance, misconduct and non-conduct, and these types are neglected by management personnel who rarely intervene even if they know what is happening. Misconduct is wrong because it violates rights and causes people to be wrongly accused of crimes or found not guilty and released while still posing a danger to others. The public needs to be informed about what is happening in the police system in the hopes that someone will speak out to protect citizens from violations by police officers. The article Police Integrity: Rankings of Scenarios on the Lockars Scale by “Management Cops” indicates that the different scenarios for each definition and the nature of police work make this corruption difficult to define specifically (Vito 153). Since it is very difficult to define correctly, the three main categories of embezzlement, misdeed and non-performance...... middle of paper ...... e punishments. An article in the Criminal Justice Review states that “controlling police corruption is difficult, if not impossible (Vito 153).” Indeed, the only people who know these crimes are being committed are usually other police officers in a department. Police officers generally fail to report their colleagues and, as a result, much of this deviance goes unnoticed. Works Cited O'Connor, TR "Police Deviance and Ethics." PoliceCrimes.com. November 11, 2005. The web. February 14, 2015. Vito, Gennaro F., Scott Wolfe, George E. Higgins, and William F. Walsh. “Police Integrity: Reprints of Klockars Scenario Rankings by “Management Cops.” » EBSCO Publishing Service selection page. June 2011. The web. February 16, 2015. Weitzer, Ronald and Steven A. Tuch. “Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct.” JSTOR. August 2004. Web. March 19. 19 2015.