Discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 107

Discussion - Assignment Example In the year 2013, Target Company’s data were hacked in its stores. This presented serious threats to the credit and debit cards of approximately 40 million customers. This follows the introduction of malware to the POS system in the stores (Cheng, 1). In the year 2014 on January 10, the Target Company admitted that approximately 70 million of its customers faced serious security issues. This is because their personal information were stolen following the security breach. This resulted to several losses to the company. In addition, the security breach at Target Company eroded the company’s good reputation. It is estimated that in 2013, the security breach cost the shareholders at the Target Company approximately $148 million (Cheng, 2). From the above incidences, there were several lessons learnt by prospective business persons, including the Target Company that was the victim. It is evident that every operating business premises should have secure data systems. The data should be protected in such a way that hackers cannot easily access them in order to avoid the losses incurred, as well as the negative consequences associated with security breaches. In conclusion, data or security breach is a serious issue to most companies as well as agencies. Data security breaches always paralyze several operations within the companies. In addition, they always result to huge losses and compromise on the reputation of the companies. Cheng, Andria. Target data breach has lingering effect on customer service, reputation scores. Retrieved on 10th June 2014 from

Macroeconomic Policies during the Recession of 2008-2009

Macroeconomic Policies during the Recession of 2008-2009 Renyuan Feng An Assessment of Macroeconomic Policies during the Great Recession of 2008-2009 Brief Introduction From 2008-2009, US economy suffered the severe recession from the impact of the global financial crisis. From 1990s, United States has experienced the huge amount of the saving inflows from the other emerging markets (Bernanke, 2009). However, the financial institutions invest these savings with the poor way to develop the sub-prime mortgage and push the real estate price increasing. The sub-prime mortgage loans were provided to the people with poor credit score as the no income, no job and no asset groups. Meanwhile, these bad loans were securitized in the financial market and traded as the financial instruments to provide numerous profits for the financial institutions and Wall Street bankers (Thomas, Hennessey, Holtz-Eakin, 2011). The low interest rate and the increase of housing price had provided new opportunities for these foreign saving inflows. The burst of housing bubble has led the high proportion of defaults on subprime mortgage. With the fall of largest financial institu tion, the whole financial system suffered the damage. Later, this financial crisis has become contagious into the global scale and finally created one of the most serious financial chaoses in the beginning of the new century. During these months, US economy has experienced the severe negative influences as the real GDP fell at a 6% annual rate and the employment positions have been reduced in the large amount every month. The usage of confusing financial instruments as credit-default swaps and collateralized debt obligations in the financial market has been blamed as one of the significant reasons for the crisis (Weisberg, 2010). Meanwhile, the other main causes for this Great Recession could be included as the international global imbalances, the low interest rate for the monetary policy, the lack of regulation for the new financial instruments and conflicts of interest in the financial rating agencies (Bernanke, 2009). Fiscal Policies in Action To deal with this economic recession, US government has passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009. The act aims to develop more new employment and maintain current ones, to stimulate the economy and invest the economic growth and to improve the transparency of government spending. At the same time, the government would provide around $787 billion financial support for the tax cuts, funding for unemployment benefits and funding for grants and loans (Recovery.gov, 2009). The government requires the usages of Recovery funds need to be reported every year to maintain its transparency. The government would also provide financial support to the local school districts. All these actions would help the country’s economy to leave the negative influence from financial crisis. However, the strategies which focuses on the government spending and taxes cut are still be discussed by the economic scholars because the effect of them are hard to be observed and examined(Wilson, 2012). Monetary Policies in Action One of the most significant monetary policies is that the Federal Reserve to support the economy is that usage of quantitative easing. It is the approach that the central bank uses its printing machines to make more notes to buy the assets (Reddy, 2010). This way could effectively decline the notes’ yield and the interest rates of the debt market. This strategy could help the homeowners to refinance their loans because the borrowing costs have been reduced. The investors also are guided into the share markets and bond markets by the market to increase the value of these securities (Reddy, 2010). It could help the US exporters because it weakens the US dollar. The whole process could push the asset prices and inflation expectations, reduce the exchange rate and real interest rates. From 2008 to 2010, the Federal Reserve has bought about $1.7 trillion of Treasury and asset-backed securities to push the economy away from the recession. The economists have predicted that this acti on could reduce 0.5% of the long term Treasury yields and also the rates in the private credit markets. It also helps the asset market, especially the real estate market to increase the prices. This activity could have the possibility to build up another round of the financial bubble because of the higher yields in riskier assets. The quantitative easing could effectively reduce the value of the US dollar and start the currency war. However, it increases the risks of pushing up the prices of commodities and increasing the inflations. The effects and risks of this policy are still the controversial topics. Have the Fiscal Policies Worked? The Fiscal Policy as ARRA actually helps the economy recovery for months. With the implementation of this act, the economy performance was significantly influenced. The real GDP showed the stable growth from the autumn of 2009. The private payroll employment also grew in about 2.2 million from 2010 to 2011(Council of Economic Advisers, 2011). Some measures have the fiscal stimulus has the effect on the increasing level of GDP from 2011. The strong growth of GDP has begun from the third quarter of 2009 and remained the good trend for the economy in the following months. The result is similar with other results from different analysts. Until 2011, the estimation from CEA showed the employment has been increased between 2.2 to 4.2 million (Council of Economic Advisers, 2011). In 2008 and 2009, the employment market has suffered the serious decline because of the impact from the recession. The fiscal policy of ARRA has raised the concerns of the Federal Government into the job market. Fr om the first quarter of 2011, the payroll employment has kept the steady increase in the following months. This result was the significant increase to help more people to work and increase their income. The Federal government has effectively cut its spending and tax in the amount of $697 billion which has followed the estimation of the act. The huge amount of the tax cuts would still continue in the next year plans. The individual tax cuts and the state fiscal relief which occupied the large proportion in the government spending have been paid more attention to deal with. The public investment spending on infrastructure and clean energy have been increased from only $7 billion in 2009 to $182 billion in 2011. It is because this act aims to develop the long-term strategies for the economy. The demands of improving infrastructure and clean energy could effectively increase the competitiveness for the country’s future economic development. These results have been compared with t he other results from different models (Council of Economic Advisers, 2011). There were no significant differences among them. Additionally, the study from Moody’s Analytics model also supported that the current fiscal policies have contributed a lot in to the increase of GDP, jobs and inflation (Blinder Zandi, 2010). After examining the results in different scenario, the study showed that the financial stimulus played an important role in the economic performance. Have the Monetary Policies Worked? The Monetary Policy actually failed to stimulate the economy. First of all, after many rounds of quantitative easing activities, the economy still remains weak. The national economy is in the low-growth environment with the poor GDP performance. The GDP in 2010 was just 2.9% which was the result with both contributions from fiscal policies and monetary policies. Meanwhile, the performance in employment market was also bad with the high unemployment rate of 9.2%. The financial support with more than $2.1 million in the job market actually worked nothing in theses months. All these bad performance have added more pressure to the Federal Reserve. Even though the value of US dollar has been decreased in the global market, the export market could not contribute sufficiently to support the economy. US government was also blamed to control its exchange rate in the global exchange market. On the other hand, the monetary policy has stimulated the creation of the new asset bubble. The impact f or the huge amount of notes in the financial system has shown in the economic performance. The inflation faced the huge challenge in the increasing prices of commodities. The SP has increased twice than last year at 8%. Residents have to face the increase in the commodity. However, the government believed this inflation was still in control and with few risks. The IPO has become the next bubble in the financial market which was the result of commodity boom and asset bubble (Groth Randazzo, 2011). This monetary policy has driven the US Federal Government into one wired situation with the mix of stagnant wages, high unemployment, high inflation and the asset bubble. The government believed that there were no threats from the inflation and asset bubbles. However, the capacity for the government to identify the potential risks and the effect of the current policy were still doubted by the economists. The government policy influenced the indicators for government to adjust its policies has become one of the paradox in the decision making process. All these results could show the failure of quantitative easing policy. Conclusion Currently, US Federal Government has implemented several fiscal and monetary policies to help the economy recover from the chaos of global financial crisis. With the combination of government spending cuts, tax cuts and quantitative easing, the US economy has shown increasing trend. With the comparison from different studies, the fiscal policies have successfully improved the performance of the economy. The government should continue the sustainability of economic development and maintain the concentration into the employment market. On the other hand, the monetary policy as quantitative easing did not show the significant effect on the economy. The increasing inflation and the potential new asset bubbles have brought more challenges to the Federal Government. In this aspect, the government must pay more attention into these two areas to avoid increasing likelihood for the other crisis. The government must adjust both monetary and fiscal policies to achieve the goal. References Bernanke, B, S. (2009). Four Questions about the Financial Crisis. Retrieved from http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20090414a.html Blinder,A, S., Zandi, M. (2010). How the Great Recession Was Brought to an End. Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/blinder/End-of-Great-Recession.pdf Council of Economic Advisers. (2011). The Economic Impact of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/cea_7th_arra_report.pdf Groth, J., Randazzo, A. (2011). The Failure of Quantitative Easing. Retrieved from http://reason.com/archives/2011/07/15/the-failure-of-quantitative-eaRecovery.gov. (2009). The Recovery Act. Retrieved from http://www.recovery.gov/About/Pages/The_Act.aspx Reddy, S. (2010). How It Works; When It Doesn’t Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704506404575592722702012904.html Thomas, B., Hennessey,K., Holtz-Eakin, D. (2011). What Caused the Financial Crisis? Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704698004576104500524998280.html Weisberg, J. (2010). What Caused the Economic Crisis. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_big_idea/2010/01/what_caused_the_economic_crisis.html Wilson, D, J. (2012). Government Spending: An Economic Boost? Retrieved from http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2012/el2012-04.html

Life Is Mathematics: Looking at the movie Pi. Essay -- Essays Papers

Life Is Mathematics: Looking at the movie Pi. Well that pretty much says it all. What is it? It is a very good movie. This is an Independent film. It is a number which can only be defined in the mind. The first time I watched this movie was when I was at my best friend’s house last year around 2am. We watched it on VHS, but didn’t finish it. I came back here and found someone who had it on their computer; we burned it to a CD in a DivX format. â€Å"DivX(TM) is a leading MPEG-4 compatible video compression technology, with over 50 million users worldwide† (e.Digital Corp.). Now I can watch it whenever I want to. This movie is in black and white. It is not old, but it is not in color. That adds to the effect of the movie. After awhile you don’t need color. In fact, if this movie was in color I do not think it would be as effective as it is in black and white. I think that color would take away from the movie. It would be a distraction. Mathematics is defined, like black and white. Throughout the movie there is a ton of foreshadowing and allusions. The main character in this film is Max Cohen, a Jewish mathematician obsessed with number theory who suffers from chronic headaches. Max is played by Sean Gullette. This film is directed by Darren Aronofsky (Ï€). The thing that appeals to me the most is that they took a movie about math and made it fun to watch. Some of the parts were a little gross, but when I watched it I wanted to know what was coming next. When I watched the movie I had to think. It is one of those movies that if you just watch it for fun, you will miss things. If you watch it in a way that you are trying to figure out why every scene is there, and why it is important: ... ... leave you with a quote and then restate my assumptions. â€Å"Music is the pleasure the human soul experiences from counting without being aware that it is counting.† -Gottfried Leibniz. 1. Mathematics is the language of nature. 2. Everything around us can be described and understood using numbers. 3. If you graph the numbers of any system patterns will emerge. Therefore there are patterns everywhere in nature. Works Cited Dir. Darren Aronofsky. Per. Sean Gullette. VHS. Artisan Entertainment. Et al. 1997. Barrow, John D. Pi in the Sky: Counting, Thinking, and Being. Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1992 Beckmann, Peter. A History of Pi. The Golem Press. 1971. e.Digital Corp. and DivXNetworks Form Strategic Partnership to Design and Develop DivX Video Devices. Business Editors & High-Tech Writers. San Diego. April 9, 2002.

Assessing the Level of Environmental Literacy of Teachers

Assessing the level of environmental literacy of teachers in Epe division of Lagos State, Nigeria Fatona P. Olugbenga School of Environmental Health Science Ogun State College Of Health Technology P. M. B 2081 Ilese – Ijebu Email: [email  protected] ca 08033835621, Akinyele C. Babasope School of Environmental Health Science Ogun State College Of Health Technology P. M. B 2081 Ilese – Ijebu Email: [email  protected] com 08037221905 & Musah K. Toyin School of Public Health Nursing Ogun State College Of Health Technology P. M. B 2081 Ilese – Ijebu Email: musahk. [email  protected] com 08033708027 Abstract The crucial role that teachers’ environmental literacy plays in realizing the goals of environmental education and its importance cannot be overemphasized. Therefore, this study sought to measure the environmental literacy of teachers who are saddled with responsibility of imparting environmental ideas and knowledge into the school-going population. The tudy employed a descriptive research design and administered questionnaires on four hundred (400) male and female teachers drawn from government controlled secondary schools that were randomly selected from the teachers’ corps in Epe division of Lagos Nigeria. However, three hundred and fifty-two (352) copies were retrieved and analyzed. A self-designed instrument that has a reliability coefficient of 0. 945 was used in gathering data which was analyzed by using analysis of variance (F-te sts and T-tests). Three (3) null hypotheses were formulated and tested in the study; two (2) were accepted while one (1) was rejected. The findings revealed a tendency regarding the impact of training of teachers on their environmental literacy among others. Consequently, the study suggested the need for pre-service as well as in-service environmental education training of teachers and that the existing curriculum at all levels of education should be reviewed to richly include environmental sustainability. Keywords:Environmental literacy, education, teachers Introduction The earth is primarily life supporting system. It consists essentially biochemical processes that imbue it with the capacity to sustain life. As an ecosystem, the earth however, has a threshold within which it can effectively absorb or withstand interruptions and radical changes in the biochemical processes that help to sustain life. Unfortunately, development-oriented activities of man over the last century or so have primarily restructured the environment and upset the delicate balance of nature. It has resulted in a number of changes on the planet, earth. These changes are essentially inimical to the continued existence of man and other life forms here on earth (United Nations, 1992). For example, the air we breathe is constantly being overloaded with carbon dioxide and other poisonous material from vehicular emission, exhausts of industrial and power plant etc. Land are stripped bare of vegetation or polluted with oil spills and human waste. The use of ozone- depleting substance such as products with chlorofluorocarbon, halons and methyl bromides (from which plastics and foams are made) allow excessive levels of harmful ultraviolet rays to reach the earth, resulting in increased rates of skin cancer, eye damage and weakened immune system. There is higher rate of exploitation and use of natural resources and higher levels of waste become a global issue (United Nations, 1992). According to the Council of Ministers of Education (2005) sustainable development is both a goal and a concept. As a goal, it is an idea of a world where people protect the environment as they carry out their daily activities. As a concept, it involves conceptual probing about limits on natural resources, capacities of ecosystem and interactions among social, economic, political and environmental systems. In other words, it works towards a sustainable quality of life, now and in the future. Thus, Noibi and Lawal (1993) sees it as a development strategy wherein the physical assets, natural and human resources as well as available funds are managed in a manner that ensures increasing health and wealth for both the present and future generations on planet earth. The essences of sustainable development is to meet the needs and aspirations of the present generation of man and other living creatures, both plants and animals, without compromising the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs and aspirations (NEST, 1991). The United Nations (1992), Uche (1995), UNESCO (1997) and Inyang-Abia (1998, 2001) all assert that education is humanity’s best hope and most effective means for the quest to achieve sustainable development at national or global levels. This may be due to the fact that sustainable development calls for the particular skills, knowledge, values and attitudes regarding the environment, the economy and the well-being of people. Perhaps, in response to the calls by UNESCO and United Nations, education for sustainability has become the norm in most countries of the world in recent years. In Nigeria, there have been some activities aimed at creating awareness and educating the masses on environmental issues. Initially the mass media, various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and government agencies were used to create awareness of the nature of the environment and the need for its sustainability, as Uche (1995) observed. The birth of Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) in the 1980’s, the rising interest among policy makers on the need for a sound environmental base for development, launching of national conservation strategy (NCS) in 1986, the natural resources conservation council (NRCC) in 1988 and the ultimate launching of the national policy on the environment in 1989 were all critical steps in the national drive towards environmental awareness and resources conservation. In order to facilitate the education of the citizenry for sustainability, the Nigeria government has infused environmental sustainability topics into the 2003 version of the national curriculum for primary schools (NERDC, 2003). The topics infused include population, pollution, soil management, waste and waste disposal, drugs and drug abuse, etc. The idea is to start education for sustainability from the foundation. While arrangements are made to do the same in higher levels of education, teachers are encouraged to incorporate environmental sustainability issues in their instruction (NERDC, 2003). The potential of environmental literacy as a vehicle to realize the educational agenda of sustainable development cannot be over-emphasized. According to Disinger and Roth (1992) environmental literacy is a prerequisite to maintaining and improving the quality of the environment and life as such. The development and fostering of environmental literacy need, therefore, to be a key objective in any general education programme (Roth, 1992). Apparently, the term â€Å"environmental literacy† does not mean the same to everyone. Since the first general reference to the concept â€Å"environmental literacy† appeared in 1969 (Roth, 1992), various researchers have made an effort to define it or to refine description of it. Example can be found in, inter alia, Clacherty (1992), Roth (1992) and Subbarini (1998). A definition of environmental literacy was developed from the various efforts of researchers such as Leeming, Porter, Dwyer, Cobern and Oliver (1997), Loubser (1994), Smith-Sebasto and Smith (1997), Pohorille (1985) and Buethe and Smallwood (1987). This definition was used for the purposes of this research and it stated that: Environmental literacy is the ability to be aware of one’s environment. It enriches one with the knowledge to realize the imbalances and threats the environment faces and enables one to form positive attitudes towards it with the aim of developing skills to resolve and prevent environmental problems and urge to protect and improve the environment for the present and future generations by active participation. A study was also made of various models comprising concepts researchers regard as important to environmental education and environmental literacy. From these attempts by, inter alia, Munson (1994), Odum (1992), Roth (1992) and Loubser (1994), ten concepts that were regarded as necessary for teachers to have a grasp of, before being able to really do justice to environmental education were identified. The ten concepts are in line with the definitions, aims, objectives and guiding principles of environmental education and preceding definition of environmental literacy. Each of the ten concepts is a cluster of related sub concepts representing aspects of environmental literacy. These ten concepts were selected mainly from major environmental area such as ecology and interactions in the environment, participation in the identification and prevention of environmental problems, decision making on environmental issues and environmental ethics. The ten concepts are biosphere, ecological perspective, interrelationship in an ecosystem, environmental changes, basic human needs, resources, maintaining environmental quality, the ability to make choices, decision-making on environmental issues, as well as environmental ethics. In most of these concepts there is a close link between knowledge, affect, skills and behaviour. Environmental literacy, therefore, is considered to be continuum of competencies raging from zero competencies to a very high competency. There is a broad spectrum of environmental literacy, from complete unawareness to deep, thorough understanding and concern (Buethe and Smallwood, 1997). For the purposes of this research a few distinguishable, but not separable, disposition levels on this continuum were identified, namely awareness, knowledge, attitude and participation. Teachers- more than any other professional group- can probably promote environmental literacy, by virtue of their interaction with society (more specifically learners, parents and colleagues). Teachers at all levels and subject areas have a role to play in this regard, i. e. contribute to the development of citizens who possess the basic understanding and skills to make informed decisions in matters affecting the environment and whose personal lifestyles support sustainable development. Teachers can, however, hardly assist learners to become environmentally literate if they themselves lack environmental literacy. Despite the important role teachers’ play in educating students, research into teacher’s level of environmental literacy has been extremely limited. The few studies that were reported indicated a relatively low level of environmental literacy. An example is a study by Buethe and Smallwood (1997) which stated that the environmental literacy of Indiana teachers is far from optimal. In addition several researchers, for example, Schreuder (1995), Braus (1995) and Papadimitriou (1995), mentioned that most teachers are not trained to do justice to environmental education. It seems, therefore, imperative to be able to determine the state of affairs regarding the environmental literacy of the teacher corps. Hypotheses The following hypotheses were formulated and tested in this study: 1. There is no significant difference between the levels of environmental literacy of teachers if they are divided according to learning area in which they offer tuition. 2. There is no significant difference between the levels of environmental literacy of teachers if they are divided according to learning area in which they offer tuition. 3. There is no significant difference in the level of environmental literacy between teachers who receive training in environmental education and those who did not receive any training. Method Research design This is a descriptive survey research design of ex-post facto because the variables being studied had occurred and were not manipulated by the researchers. Instrumentation The questionnaire developed in this study consisted of two sections- section A which comprised items on background demographic information of respondents and section B which comprised 30 items dealing with the various aspects of environmental literacy assessed in this study. The items were developed according to a matrix with the ten central concepts representing environmental literacy on one axis and the disposition level of the respondent on the other axis. A 4-point scale ranging from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’ was used as a response-measuring scale. Sample The study sample was drawn from the entire population of teachers in public secondary schools in Epe division of Lagos State. It consisted of 400 teachers randomly selected from 40 secondary schools randomly selected from the 4 local governments that make up the division. Questionnaires were however, adequately completed by 352 teachers. These respondents were representative of gender, age, learning area taught and qualifications obtained. Procedure Three research assistants were employed to assist in administering the printed questionnaires on the teachers in their respective schools. In some cases the filled questionnaire were returned on the spot while in other cases the research assistants went back on a different day to collect the completed questionnaires. Data analyses The data obtained from the questionnaire was analyzed by using analysis of variance (F tests and t tests). Results and discussion Hypothesis 1 ‘There is no significant difference between the levels of environmental literacy of teachers with different academic qualification’. Table 1:Level of environmental literacy of teachers with different qualifications |Qualification N Means SD | |NCE 103 416. 31 35. 71 | |B Ed 64 418. 88 37. 62 | |B A 24 417. 50 51. 4 | |B Sc 12 446. 00 41. 59 | |Other 149 422. 58 40. 48 | F (4. 347) = 1. 70; p>0. 05 The respondents were divided into five categories based on highest academic qualification as indicated in table 1. In order to compare the mean scores of the five groups an analysis of variance (F test) was carried out. The results of the F test, which appear in table 1, revealed that the null hypothesis could not be rejected (p>0. 5). It can, therefore, be concluded that there is no significant difference between the average environmental literacy of teachers with different academic qualification. It appears that this result contradicts research results reported by Buethe and Smallwood (1997), if one assumes that almost all secondary school science teachers in the USA have a BSc degree. According to them, science teach ers had higher levels of environmental literacy than other teachers. Hypothesis 2 ‘There is no significant difference between the levels of environmental literacy of teachers if they are divided according to learning area in which they offer tuition’. In order to test this null hypothesis, the respondents were divided into eight categories. According to an analysis of variance (F test), the null hypothesis cannot be rejected when the means of the total score obtained for the questionnaire are compared [F (7. 344) = 1. 81; p>0. 05]. This result is in line with a finding from a study by Abraham and Chacko (1999), according to which teacher training college lecturers have average environmental literacy, irrespective of the subjects they teach. An analysis of the mean scores (F test) obtained for the four dl fields in the eight categories revealed, however, an interesting picture. The results for the Knowledge dl field are indicated in Table 2. Table 2:Knowledge dl field scores of teachers in different learning areas |Learning area N Mean SD | |Language, literacy and communication 133 98. 62 11. 1 | |Human and social science 47 100. 49 9. 60 | |Maths, maths’ literacy and maths’ science 66 99. 36 8. 69 | |Natural science 76 103. 66 10. 89 | |Arts and culture 12 100. 2 4. 40 | |Economic and management science 9 103. 33 16. 12 | |Life orientation 7 90. 43 5. 06 | |Technology 2 100. 00 2. 83 | F (7. 344) = 2. 74; p

Community Policing Corruption Essay

In today’s society, the amount of crime that occurs can be quite difficult to deal with and responsibility ends up falling on police to curtail it. Unfortunately, the infectious nature of crime often drags these assigned â€Å"stoppers† into the same mud that they are trying to prevent others from falling into. When officers abuse their legally sanctioned position of authority, it is known as police corruption. It is a persistent problem that is more significant in a criminal sense than the average person committing a crime because it is happening by a representative/protector of the law. Since police are not judiciaries, they do not determine who is guilty and thus undermine the law system when they do these crimes. Also, it is important to note that police corruption is not the same as an ordinary instance of crime. To elaborate, â€Å"Police corruption is an illegal use of organizational power for personal gain. The personal nature of the gain distinguishes corruption from brutality, perjury, illegal search, or any other law violations committed in the pursuit of such legitimate organizational goals as fighting crime. The organizational nature of the power used illegally excludes many crimes committed by policemen, such as burglary committed by a city police officer in his suburban town of residence in which he has no contact with the local police. That particular burglary would be merely a crime. A burglary committed by a police officer in his own police jurisdiction, under the protection of his colleagues or aided by his organizational knowledge of his colleagues’ practices, would be both a crime and an act of police corruption.† (Sherman, 31). As one can see, police corruption is a serious problem as it is almost always involves an associated act of crime. There is no room for this behaviour in fair environments and it cannot occur if society wishes to advance. Ultimately, police corruption cannot coexist with the concept of community policing because it is unethical and morally wrong, it is contrary to Robert Peel’s nine principles of policing and undermines effectiveness, and it offers no sense of accountability to the government and to the public. There is no logical way to justify corrupt actions by the police. Any time it occurs, it involves the â€Å"abuse of a legally sanctioned position of authority—in other words, the status of the police officer makes the crime possible. It is this abuse of a ‘sanctioned and sacred’ social position that makes police corruption so dangerous. It is the ultimate social inversion—the cops become criminals. (Police Corruption)† Instead of helping to fight crime, they end up contributing to the problem through means that are only available to them because of their sworn duties as protectors of the community. When corruption is revealed to the public, the police lose the confidence and trust that allows them to function and be legitimate. Corrupt acts are completely immoral as they are motivated by personal gain which demonstrates selfishness and a disregard of the well-being of society. The detrimental aspects of police misconduct cannot be overstated as they immediately threaten the possibility of effective police-community relationships. â€Å"In terms of public trust for law enforcement, recent polls show that only 56 percent of people rated the police as having a high or very high ethical standard as compared with 84 percent for nurses. Over the past few decades, great strides have occurred in the law enforcement profession. To begin with, many police agencies have avoided hiring candidates who have low ethical standards and have identified those onboard employees early in their careers who might compromise the department’s integrity. In addition, research has discovered new methods of testing candidates for their psychological propensity to act ethically. However, unethical conduct by the nation’s police officers continues to occur in departments large and small. (Martin). Clearly, society has made some strides toward ensuring ethical and rational behaviour in the police force but it is impossible to root it out all the way to the individual level. For community policing to be effective, a high percentage of officers must be able to see the difference between right and wrong and take appropriate action. Recent studies offer some understanding of the phenomenon in the hope of rooting out this behavior that serves to undermine the overall legitimacy of law enforcement. Theories on the role of society in law enforcement, the negative influence of an officer’s department, and a person’s own natural tendency to engage in unethical behavior have been offered as potential explanations. While some may argue that the â€Å"rotten apple† theory is the best explanation for this problem, the vast amount of evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. Deviance rarely persists in an isolated environment but it thrives when it is adopted by an entity such as a department. To explain, â€Å"If we scan these activities then it must be plain that we are no longer dealing with individuals seeking solely personal gain but with group behaviour rooted in established arrangements. Police officers have to be initiated into these practises, rationalisations have to be produced to accept them, supervisors have to collude or turn a blind eye, justifications have to be sought to continue them, and organizations have either in some way to condone or encourage these activities — or else fail to tackle them. This is social behaviour, conducted in groups within organizations, that is powerful enough to override the officer’s oath of office, personal conscience, departmental regulations and criminal laws (European Committee, 68).† For all of these events to occur, it is evident that a multitude of people inside the organization must collaborate and therefore it is rarely an isolated case of corruption. Corruption is highly contagious and this is illustrated well through theories such as the â€Å"slippery slope† and â€Å"grass vs meat eaters† This also explains why corruption is usually concentrated in certain precincts or areas instead of being dispersed. Sir Robert Peel was credited with the concept that the police depend on citizen cooperation in providing services in a democratic society. â€Å"Peel envisioned a strong connection between the police and the community (Police Corruption)†. Unfortunately, the existence of police corruption is contrary to all nine of his principles. The police’s basic mission is to prevent crime and disorder, which they only contribute to if they are corrupt. They rely on the public approval of their actions, which cannot happen in a just society (â€Å"community tolerance, or even support, for police corruption can facilitate a department’s becoming corrupt [Sherman, 32]). Corrupt police officers do not cooperate with the public; they avoid contact as they do not want to reveal their illicit nature. Since corrupt officers are aware of their actions, they might have improper judgement and use physical force. They fail to demonstrate absolutely impartial service by attempting to manipulate public opinion, do not become â€Å"one† with the public, they usurp the power of the judiciary, and sacrifice efficiency for personal gain by not devoting all of their effort to reducing crime and disorder. These corrupt officers also undermine effectiveness as they do not use their time as well as they should be, show only self-concern and indifference to the morality of the situation, and abuse resources. â€Å"The legal authority of police departments and the nature of law violations in their jurisdiction provide organizational resources that can be exploited for personal gain. The nature of these resources varies greatly among and within police departments according to the nature of police tasks performed and the social characteristics of the police task environment. A police department that is a corrupt organization can exploit the resources for internal profit. In all cases, exploitation of these resources for personal gain is an inversion of the formal goals of the organization. (Sherman, 38). Depending on exactly what type of resources the organization deals with, they may or may not be suitable for exploitation. Federal drug enforcement entities constantly deal with opportunities to make a lot of illicit profit whereas Secret Services almost never has chances to make illicit gains at all. In many situations, police may lose some or all of their accountability to the public or government if they do not act with the appropriate intentions. Accountability is a vital element of not just community policing but policing in general. If the police are to achieve their goal which should be lawfulness and legitimacy, they require effective accountability procedures. â€Å"Lawfulness and legitimacy, in turn, are essential if the police are to achieve their goals of reducing crime and disorder, enhancing the quality of neighborhood life, and serving community needs. A lack of legitimacy inhibits the development of working partnerships that are an essential ingredient in community policing and problem oriented policing. Contrary to the popular view that effective crime control and respect for constitutional principles are competing values in policing, experts today increasingly recognize that lawful conduct and accountability are essential for crime-fighting. (Walker, 1). While it is apparent that lawfulness and legitimacy must be upheld in order to serve the community, a fundamental principal of a democratic society that the police should be held accountable for their actions. This includes choosing what actions they take and how they perform. This is especially true in post-conflict environments where police forces are viewed as brutal, corrupt, and unfair. In order to maintain a healthy relationship, a â€Å"liberal society must be maintained, complaints about the police must be addressed, and police themselves must be protected by disgruntled acts by the community† (Accountability and Police). At the same time, police must keep a healthy distance to avoid excessive personal interaction which leads to preferential treatment, discretion, and favouritism. Furthermore, it is important to note that, â€Å"The accountability of police to the public is undermined when charges are often dropped while officers under investigation are usually suspended with pay. In other words, there is no real certainty of punishment and this de-legitimizes any notion of public accountability and respect for the law (Police Corruption). In the eyes of the public, it is already bad enough that the officer are taking advantage of their position of authority but to have them face virtually no consequences is beyond demoralizing. In order for community policing to exist, the public must be confident in the fact that the police are not taking advantage of their position and are accountable in and out of service. In conclusion, because police corruption is unethical and morally wrong, violates all of Robert Peel’s principles, and shows a complete disregard of the notion of accountability, it is impossible to coincide with effective community policing. Police corruption is the illegal use of organizational power for personal gain and unfortunately a still a common occurrence in modern society. It is crucial for the police, as protectors of society, to not allow themselves to stoop so low. The community has to be able to know that no matter what police might have to deal with, they will remain pure and free of corruption in order to begin forming positive relationships. Methods of containing corruption include abolishing existing precedures that encourage corruption, letting go of any member that demonstrates corrupt tendencies, requiring a certain level of accountability, and many other steps. Organizations such as the Special Investigations Unit have made strides in reducing corruption however it is not nearly enough. If corruption is controlled to a point where it no longer has a detrimental impact to society, community policing can have enough room to develop. â€Å"Preventing corruption completely is a tall order. However, steps can be taken to reduce it significantly. There are a few fundamental ideas that can be implemented that can, by their very nature, curb corruption. The three areas that need attention are the officer training, personal characters, and the incentives program. The first step is to hire police officers of good character. Stricter screening methods need to be implemented to decrease the chance that a potential hire will become corrupt. Once an officer is hired, the department should do all it can to promote ethics on the job. The department must understand that the citizens trust the police to be ethical, and a breach of that trust is unjust. Further, it is not practical to act unethically. People eye the police and their behavior constantly. Corruption in the force makes it easier for a citizen to rationalize acting unlawfully, which just creates more work for the police. If a police officer, who is allegedly the pillar of the law, can defy it, why cannot the citizens who pay for the police services? (White) A corrupt police officer cannot very well express effectively why citizens should obey the law, for he has no consistency and thus no credibility. Works Cited Sherman, Lawrence W. Scandal and Reform: Controlling Police Corruption. N.p.: University of California, 1978. Print. Police Powers and Accountability in a Democratic Society. N.p.: 2000. Google Books. Web. . Walker, Samuel. â€Å"Police Accountability: Current Issues and Research Needs.† National Institute of Justice Police Planning (2006): 1-35. National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. . White, Stuart A. â€Å"Controlling Police Corruption.† Stanford University. N.p., 4 June 1994. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. . Martin, Rich M.S. â€Å"Police Corruption: An Analytical Look Into Police Ethics.† FBI. N.p., May 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. .