A group of 14 serving and previous police personnel are among 20 defendants arrested in the states of Mississippi and Tennessee for accepting bribes from drug traffickers in to provide police protection, in what authorities described as "an enormous breach of the community's confidence".
The arrests come after a years-long probe by national law enforcement who acted as narcotics dealers. Two of the defendants were county sheriffs from Mississippi.
National authorities set up the undercover operation after hearing reports from actual narcotics criminals about being forced to provide corrupt payments to police members.
This corruption scheme allegedly extended outside the Mississippi Delta region into the city of Memphis in Tennessee, and Miami, Florida.
"Initial reports that began the investigation were from drug dealers," a U.S. attorney stated during a press briefing on the day of the announcement.
Some of the officers had accepted bribes ranging from $20,000 (£15,000) and $37,000, the legal official noted.
The sting utilized undercover federal agents acting as drug dealers with simulated drugs, which the defendants allegedly believed to be 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of cocaine.
"They betrayed the public," stated a senior FBI official. "They betrayed the confidence that the public had in them, shamed the badge and weakened the hard work of honest police members across this area and locality."
The arrests occur as American authorities have embarked on aerial attacks in South America against suspected narcotics criminals.
