History of Police Corruption in the United States The challenges facing the Chicago Police Department today are not new, nor are they unique to this city. The problem reaches back as far as the establishment of the first organized police forces in the United States. Corruption has taken many forms and has continued to plague the police departments of nearly every major city. Police corruption may change form over time, but its roots are firmly planted in American history. In The Development of the American Police: An Historical Overview, Uchida notes that "if there is a common theme that can be used to characterize the