Police executives understand the difference between misconduct and corruption. Misconduct occurs in every department; any violation of policy may logically be termed “misconduct.” Corruption, however, is a different story altogether. In its model policy on Corruption Prevention, dated October 1, 1996, the IACP defines corruption as “acts involving the misuse of authority by a police officer in a manner designed to produce personal gain for the officer or others.”1 Misconduct gets officers fired; corruption gets chiefs fired. Therefore, for decades, law enforcement agencies focused on preventing widespread corruption within the ranks and minimized isolated acts of misconduct as the result of a few negative influences. Abder Louima, Amadou Diallo, and Rodney King are examples of police brutality that police executives denounced as the acts of rogue officers. Are these acts the result of one figurative bad apple or the result of a figurative rotten barrel?
