Top 10 Most Corrupt Police Forces In The World

Police corruption is a type of police misbehavior in which officers abuse their positions of power for personal advantages, such as money or promotion. Accepting bribes in exchange for not conducting, or selectively conducting, an investigation or arrest, for example.

There appears to have been a significant upsurge in police violence around the world in recent years. Many police forces have a reputation for inhumane behavior, deep-seated corruption, and other nefarious actions. They are the world’s most corrupt police forces. They’re also notorious for their most heinous acts.

Aside from the strongest police forces in the world, there are also some of the most corrupt. They were involved in illicit actions that harmed society and put its residents in peril. Many police officers are underpaid, and in order to supplement their income, they resort to corruption – but their self-serving actions have wreaked havoc on countries in desperate need of assistance.

Here are the top 10 most corrupt police forces in the world.

Honduras

Honduran police have a reputation for being among the most corrupt in the world. Honduran police officers have been accused of a wide range of criminal activities, including corruption, passing information to criminal groups, allowing drug shipments to pass through without inspection, protecting drug trafficking operations, and participating in, and in some cases directing, violent criminal operations.

Following reports that senior police officers were involved in the 2009 assassination of the country’s drug czar, Honduras established a panel to purge the police force. Unlike earlier attempts to purge the police force, the panel made early headway, scrutinising hundreds of senior officials and dismissing thousands of officers.

The commission’s mandate is still in effect, and more than 6,000 agents had been fired by January 2020. Nonetheless, scandals involving organised crime and police leadership have called into question the commission’s legitimacy.

Read More: Top 10 worst dictators in the world

Paraguay

More than a dozen police officers get jailed in Paraguay for attempting to steal confiscated timber, highlighting the appeal of Latin America’s illegal logging business to opportunistic corrupt law enforcement and criminal networks.

For allegedly attempting to steal illegally logged wood that had been seized in an earlier police operation, an agent from the local prosecutor’s office ordered the arrest of 15 police officers from the city of Curuguaty, in Paraguay’s eastern department of Canindey, near the country’s border with Brazil.

Read More: Top 10 dangerous countries

Venezuela

According to reports, police corruption is one of Latin America’s major issues, and public perception of its scope is a major concern for regional law enforcement. In Latin America, individuals believe the police are corrupt in varying degrees, ranging from 90% in Mexico to 47% in Uruguay, while 70% of those polled in Venezuela have a bad opinion of their government. Furthermore, 56 percent of Venezuelans believe that the police are participating in organised crime.

Corruption has long plagued Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard. Border monitoring, ports, airports, oil facilities, parks, and preserving public order are among the responsibilities of the Venezuelan Armed Forces’ fourth branch. Officers of the GNB, as well as members of all of the country’s defence and security services, have been accused of drug trafficking, kidnappings, and other illicit activities in recent years.

Read More: Top 10 criminals in the world

Uganda

The Uganda Police Force (UPF) has once again been named Uganda’s most corrupt agency.

According to the Fourth National Integrity Survey Report, the general police department is the worst in the country at extorting money from citizens through bribery.

The general duties police department received 70% of the vote, followed by the traffic police department with 67% and the Criminal Investigations Directorate with 6%. (CID).

The Uganda Police Force has repeatedly been listed as Uganda’s most corrupt institution, according to several assessments, including one by Transparency International.

The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) performed this study on behalf of the Inspectorate of Government (IG) in 15 sub-regions of Uganda, including both rural and urban areas.

Guatemala

The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a unique UN-backed body that provides independent support to Guatemala’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, guided Guatemalans through dozens of high-profile cases involving some of the country’s most powerful political and economic figures.

This movement made a number of significant advancements toward a more powerful and independent judiciary. With the help of the CICIG, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has conducted over 100 corruption investigations, including high-profile personalities, and prosecuted 660 people, resulting in 400 convictions.

Guatemala is also in the process of appointing new Supreme Court justices and judges to the Appellate Court. It is critical for the rule of law and independent judicial procedures in Guatemala to have independent, deserving justice officials with the appropriate professional qualifications in the country’s highest courts.

In order to preserve their own impunity, corrupt political operators regard this process as the best opportunity to reclaim control of justice institutions. Criminal actors strive to recruit corruptible friends by influencing the selection process for these officials.

Ukraine

The judges, police, public servants, the health service, and parliament, according to Ukrainians, are the most corrupt. The police, the health-care system, and the educational system are the most common targets of bribes. Around 67 percent of Ukrainians who had engaged with the government in the late 2000s and early 2010s indicated they had been directly involved in corrupt dealings.

Bribes are paid to guarantee that government services are provided on schedule or at all. Bribes are given by Ukrainians because they believe it is traditional and expected. Some of the largest bribes are in the millions of dollars. According to a sociological survey conducted by Management Systems International (MSI), the highest levels of corruption were identified in, police was more than 55%, followed by health services, courts, and higher education.

Mexico

Police corruption is currently one of the most serious issues confronting Mexican law enforcement and politics. High unemployment, poor and stagnant salaries, and the widespread incidence of drug trafficking all contribute to corruption in Mexico.

Police corruption has had a significant detrimental impact on business and economic advancement in Mexico, according to business officials. Part of the reason for the continuous expansion of illicit narcotics and the growth of the drug manufacturing and distribution sectors is police corruption. Widespread police corruption has a number of consequences.

According to Mexico’s 2012 National Survey on Victimization and Public Security Perception, over 92 percent of crimes go unreported or uninvestigated. More than two-thirds of Mexicans believe that some or all police officers in their country are corrupt.

Corruption, according to 43% of Mexican residents, is the most significant barrier to effective law enforcement. Many people have confessed to bribing cops, even for minor offences like unauthorised parking and other traffic charges.

Tanzania

People’s efforts to struggle for justice and democratic reforms have been hampered by the Tanzanian Police Force. Because of its harsh treatment of the government’s critics and dissidents, President Magufuli’s regime has been able to implement severe laws that restrict citizens’ rights and freedoms.

President Magufuli’s unlawful restriction on political rallies and the people’s freedom to assemble in Tanzania, for example, has been used as a justification to assault opposition party meetings and arrest and detain their leaders. The police have also played a role in defending local and international wealth, as well as suppressing workers’ requests for better working conditions from their employers.

Because of the police’s efforts to instil fear of the government among the people, any collective effort on the side of the populace to demand responsibility from leaders now appears unachievable.

People still remember images of riot police conducting open exercises in the streets of various towns across the country in 2016, following the opposition Chadema party’s announcement of a nationwide demonstration to denounce what it called the country’s increasing dictatorial tendencies at the time.

Dominican Republic

According to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer for Latin America and the Caribbean, police are one of the region’s most corrupt agencies. In the Dominican Republic, 47% of those who came into touch with the police in the previous year had to pay a bribe. Bribery was found in larger numbers only in Mexico and Venezuela, both of which have a history of abusive and corrupt security forces.

Furthermore, according to Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) country report on the Dominican Republic, nearly 62 percent of Dominicans believe the police are involved in criminal activity, nearly double the percentage of people (32.2 percent) who believe the police protect the population.

According to Transparency International, 72 percent of citizens believe the government is failing to tackle corruption, and 66 percent believe corruption has deteriorated in the last year.

Kenya

The Kenyan police force is regarded as one of the most corrupt official agencies in the country. Corruption isn’t just a problem in the lower echelons of society. It exists at all levels of the police department. Those who refuse to pay bribes are sometimes brutalised, injured, or even killed, according to accounts.

The absence of checks and balances, as well as the fragility of institutions, contribute to police corruption. As a result, holding people accountable for their conduct is difficult.