Non-Partisan Corruption
by Jim Kouri
 The recent media stories regarding Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his plea agreement certainly will rock the U.S. Congress on both sides of the aisle. The good news is that it is also creating renewed interest in controlling corruption generally.
Public corruption poses the greatest single threat to the integrity of government institutions at all levels. Corruption by those controlling the nation's ports of entry and the issuance of visas and other identity documents opens our country's borders to terrorists and other criminal actors. Officials who, by misuse of their public office, negatively affect commerce between the United States and Mexico, aggravate drug trafficking and violent gang activity, and endanger the security of our nation. Some of the top executive and legislative officials in the nation have been indicted, including a former Illinois Governor, a former Texas Attorney General, and sitting members of Congress.
Abuses are most disturbing when they involve my own area of law enforcement. Police officers have been found to support or even form their own drug trafficking enterprises. Corruption within correctional facilities is another example of law officers who undermine our criminal justice and judicial systems. Approximately 50 percent of the FBI's public corruption investigations involve law enforcement officers, chiefly due to the sheer number of officers in the United States. Even military contracts involving vital defense and weapons systems can become subject to bribery and kickbacks. Along with the increasing frequency of all types of corruption, the level of sophistication and complexity of this criminal activity present special challenges.
Many major metropolitan areas, states and other localities, which have the largest number of such officials, have witnessed the indictment and conviction of officials for corruption related activities, frequently involving contract or regulatory matters. The proliferation of drug trafficking enterprises in the past decade has led to increased corruption of police and other public officials along the southwest border who facilitate drug trans-shipments into the United States. There is a serious concern that drug and alien smuggling organizations could be used by terrorists to facilitate their entry into the United States, and corrupt officials dramatically increase the success of smuggling operations. The FBI will need to increase its efforts in this arena to minimize the national security implications.
Over the next five years, government funding will expand in many areas of social activity, providing increased opportunity for government officials to engage in corruption. Similarly, as the United States increases security at the borders and in the issuance of identification documents, criminal enterprises will expand their recruitment efforts of public and law enforcement officials to bypass the increased security. The FBI must remain alert to these threats but their investigations must be rapid, fair, and accurate. This is critical because an accusation is not the same as guilt. Public officials deserve the speedy and fair investigation guaranteed in the Bill of Rights too, in spite of the sensitive nature of accusations against public officials, the potential for large losses of public funds, and the erosion of public confidence in the law when corruption occurs.
Unfortunately, many leaders in the nation's capital are trying to use corruption allegations to garner votes for political gain. The American people must be made to understand that corruption is a matter of the individual and not the political party. While the news media are concentrating on individuals such as Republicans Tom Delay, Bill Frist and Bob Ney, the Democrat Party has its own problems in the Abramoff case such as Harry Reid. The fact of the matter is public corruption is non-partisan. Indeed, it is probably one of but a very few issues that truly can be called non-partisan in today's heated political climate.
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association
of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance
(thenma.org). He's former chief at a New York City housing project in
Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war
in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New
Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations.
He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and
trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes
for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police
Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer for
TheConservativeVoice.Com. He's also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com,
MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com.
He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk
shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox
News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri's
own website is located at http://jimkouri.us
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