Accountability In The Movie Serpico

When it comes to accountability, there is virtually none and police are rarely prosecuted or dismissed for actions that a normal civilian would be prosecuted for. To finalise, the root cause of the failures that happened in the Stephen Lawrence case has not been dealt with by Scotland Yard because they have yet to really tackle racism in their institution.

Serpico testified against fellow police officers, breaking the “blue code of silence”, which is an unwritten rule among police officers not to report fellow officer wrongdoings, to the Knapp Commission on May 10, 1971. "I hope that police officers in the future will not experience the same frustration and anxiety that I was subjected to for the past five years at the hands of my superiors because of my attempt to report corruption. We create an atmosphere in which the honest officer fears the dishonest officer, and not the other way around. The problem is that the atmosphere does not yet exist in which honest

Although police officers take an oath to protect and serve citizens in our society. we have some officers that our corrupt and willing do anything just to protect themselves from being exposed from their unethical behavior. In 1994 three officers from New Orleans police department committed an unspeakable crime murder for hire and a violent drug gang. The killing of Kim grove was thirty-two years old and was gunned down by police officer that were there to protect her instead they killed her.

Police officers may or may not actively support noble-cause corruption. Sometimes when officers become aware of corrupt or illegal forms of misconduct, they are inclined to “turn a blind eye or look the other way.” It puts their fellow officers in a very difficult position, most officers tend to think that if they turn away and ignore it and do not acknowledge what is going on that they are not part of the misconduct or illegal activity. Most

In order for a Police agency to prevent and deter Police misconduct, there must be a definition to what actions and behaviors that the term will encompass. The term ‘police corruption’ has been used to describe many activities: bribery; violence and brutality; fabrication and destruction of evidence; racism; favoritism or nepotism. Many different scholars differ in their own examples of the definition. Before attempting to the question of whether a precise definition is possible, it is worth examining the range of activities that might be included within a broad discussion of corruption. In (Bayley and Perito, 2011), it is defined as police corruption is a contested phrase with narrow and broad meanings. Narrowly

Over the past decade, police brutality has covered major headlines because officers have acted out in ways that have made citizens question their motives. Things such as unjustified shootings, deadly chokings, and rough treatment have all added to the constant problem of police brutality in the black community. Annoyingly, the police officers responsible for the killings and abuse are not held for long before they are discharged to their normal routines. Since many people believe that the issues of police brutality is based on race, officers should be held accountable for their misconduct. Accountability will permit officers to treat all with equality; therefore using the appropriate amount of force on everyone. Often cops are indicted in less than 1% of killings, but the indictment rate for citizens is 90% which is a major problem. If someone does wrong they should suffer the consequence no matter who they are. As a result of misconduct officers tend be mistrusted by their communities. Deaths in the black community often stems from police officers using excessive force such as assaults, beating and shootings.

Police corruption can also be explained by the lack of protection and security police feel they have. They also feel like they are being disrespected by individuals in society, which is why they rely on the subculture for protection and support (Skolnick, 1966). The police subculture has created a lot of secrecy within the organization, which contributes to police misconduct. Police officers will often ignore another police officer’s corrupt actions in order to maintain a good reputation within the subculture (Tator & Henry, 2006). For example, 84% of police officers have directly witnessed another officer using more force than necessary out on the streets (US Department of Justice, 2017). However, instead of reporting the acts of others, 52%

Frank Serpico was remembered for that significant feat he accomplished because most police officers had just fallen in the arms of unscrupulous and Serpico was the first officer to not fall into misconduct while faced with many tempting opportunities as a plainclothesmen. Why couldn’t there be more police officers like Frank Serpico? Why did police officers allow that criminality to happen or why did police officers partake in that criminality? At least Frank Serpico had made a huge step into the right direction of transformation. The officers in the New York Police department had just gone with the flow before Serpico came around, as if corruption was a part of their job. If Frank Serpico didn’t speak up about the corruption, would it have continued to occur as if nothing was illicit?

Police officers take an oath to protect and serve the community. The community looks to police as a leader. I believe leaders set the standards, so police officers should be held to higher standards than the general public. Police officers are considered to be at the top of the organization chart. A wise saying states, “If the head (brain) is not working correctly the other parts of the body is lost.” The police are considered to be the head and the community is the other part. How could they enforce the laws that have been set by the government if they had no ethics and morals? There would be complete turmoil through the country.

Since a very young age we have been taught to put our trust into police officers. If we are in distress, they are always there to help since it is their job to protect and serve the common citizen. So what happens when the individuals we are supposed to trust to bring justice are the ones causing the injustice we see in the news? Recently, several police officers have been under fire for their excessive use of force. The number of casualties caused by police officers in the recent years have citizens demanding a reform in the system that officers work under.

While the Reform Era worked to professionalize police, as society became more complex, so did the role of the police officer. The Community Policing Era was developed as a result of the need to develop cooperation and positive relationships between the police and public. What developed out of this era was an essential element of community policing – public accountability. Police officers became accountable to their supervisors who in turn became accountable to the community. Accountability can be seen as an honest evaluation of achievement based on clearly defined objectives. Many of these objectives are defined by complex community and social problems; as such police officers require the capacity and flexibility to work on them in a variety of styles and employing a variety of strategies.

Police chiefs are held accountable for any problems within their department. Service contract was develop to hold police accountable for any misconduct in the department. Accountability and the police behavior being closely viewed by the civilian review boards and by the courts will continue to act as a venue for debating and establishing standards for the police departments. “The judicial branch is an important but indirect part of the political process. Courts at all levels of government play some role in holding the police accountable.” (Walker-Katz; page

It has been said that power inevitably leads to corruption, and it is yet to be recognized that , while there is no reason to suppose that policemen as individuals are any less fallible than other members of society, people are often shocked and outraged when policemen are exposed to violating the law.

Police Accountability and reform is a major topic of discussion in the United States of America today. Whether it’s through protesting on the streets or debating on television, like news shows, it’s an issue that you will most likely hear about over and over again. According to the scholarly article I read, Police Journal, accountability is seen as, “opposed with certain obligations that arise within a relationship of responsibility, where one person or body is responsible to another for performance of particular services” (Cheung 6). On The Daily Show, a man names Charles Kinsey was discussed. Kinsey was shot while trying to help an

From the first to the last video, you can see the police immediately firing their weapons. Instead of firing their weapons at first instance they could’ve choose to approach the situation differently. In one video, an officer is said to have shot a dog as soon as he came in contact with it and is labeled as having “trigger fingers”. As for Walter Scott, you see him running from the officer as the officer was chasing him and continuously shot him until he fell to the ground when more could’ve been done to apprehend him. In an effort to prevent these events from occurring, police accountability is a must as usually the officers that one sees in the news aren’t held accountable for their actions. All they’re given is a slap on the wrist and then