Answer: Policing is essential for maintaining law and order and smooth functioning of the society. However, police officers in day to day life often face various ethical challenges as follows:

• Conflict between means and ends: Police officers often face the dilemma of whether to use wrong means to achieve good ends in policing. For instance, taking recourse to encounters of criminals to ensure greater peace in the society or using excessive force against a public protest to maintain law and order.
• Conflict between obedience and legality: In day to day life, police officers often face ethical challenges of whether to follow state directives despite it being illegal or uphold professional integrity and legality of law. For example, state surveillance of opposition leaders through phone tapping by the police undermining the privacy rights enshrined in the Constitution.
• Acting impartially: Police officers may be limited in their ability to uphold the law by following specific procedures. For example, when an officer is aware of domestic violence but has no court-acceptable evidence to pursue the case.

Reasons behind police corruption.

• Misuse of power and discretion: Police personnel wield wide powers and discretion while discharging their functions and those driven by selfish motives can misuse it to accumulate private gains such as receiving free drinks, meals, and other gratuities.
• Ineffective enforcement of legislations: Ambiguities in legislations and administrative delays coupled with the police discretion “to act or not to act” in respect of certain offenses give ample opportunities to the personnel to resort to corrupt practices.
• Criminalization of politics: Nexus between the politicians and mafia operators prompt many police personnel to collude with such forces.
• Vicious cycle of bribery: Policemen who have paid their way through, try to recover the amount as soon as possible and corruption becomes a tool for getting better return on investment.
• Other factors: Low salary structures, nature and hours of duty, poor training, accommodation problems etc. also perpetuate police personnel to indulge in corruption.

Thus, there is a need to ensure greater police accountability, better service conditions etc. to abate police corruption in India. Further, implementation of the Supreme Court directions on police reforms under the Prakash Singh case, 2006 enforcing transparent postings and appointments, political neutrality etc. can go a long way in ensuring ethics in police functioning.