Jack Nelson

About the author: Jack Nelson is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

The fact that the number of police officers sent to federal prisons on charges of corruption has multiplied five times in four years indicates that police corruption is rampant throughout the United States. Police corruption is not a problem only in big cities; it has also spread to small towns and rural areas as well. Many jurisdictions are attempting to fight corruption by firing officers who lie to cover up criminal acts by their colleagues. Some criminal justice experts maintain that corruption within the ranks will never be completely eliminated because the temptations—in the form of seized drugs and drug money—are just too great to resist.

Law enforcement corruption, sparked mostly by illegal drugs, has become so rampant that the number...