In February 2013, “Black Guerilla Family gang leader Tavon White managed to impregnate four prison guards, two of whom got tattoos on their his name. He also convinced the guards to smuggle cell phones and other contraband” (Thirteen). Police corruption is a tangled mystery that typically falls into two groups: external corruption, which links the police and the public; and internal corruption, which links cops and the police department. Police corruption happens all the time. “Corruption is the illegal use of authority; behavior that abuses one's power and honesty and usually involves corruption” (White). While there is no one explanation for police corruption, there are only a handful of strategies, ideas, and reactions that can prevent it from occurring. “More rigorous screening methods should be applied. If he can successfully overcome all obstacles to integrity, it becomes more likely that he will be honest” (White). Police corruption has been recognized as a problem in America for at least 100 years, and numerous reform movements and departmental programs have been attempted to reduce or eliminate corruption. To ensure the ethical behavior of officials, agencies must monitor three fundamental principles: first, they must have an existing rule that indicates their ethical mission and establishes the requirements with which officials must comply; secondly, agencies must ensure they hire ethical people and treat those on board who are not ethical appropriately; third, capable and ethical authority must exist and be constant. These leaders set the tone for the department and lead by example, never choosing the easy path over the ethical one. Law enforcement agencies aim to recruit, hire and train only those who establish a strong... middle of paper ...have existed in the police force since ad infinitum, it is conceivable that some or all of these methods have been attempted in some way. In addition to the need for active prosecutions, federal prosecutors must engage in community outreach to ensure that all residents of a community know they can speak out to stop corruption. While corruption will never be eliminated from our public, vigorous investigations and prosecutions of corrupt officials can serve to reduce its harmful effects and, more importantly, significantly diminish the culture of acceptance. Karl Kraus, Austrian writer and journalist, known as a satirist and considered the first great European satirist since Jonathan Swift, once said: “Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country..”