NYPD Whistleblower Retaliation – Detective Labeled A Rat Essay

Chicago has had its share of police corruption and scandals throughout the city’s history. Officials always vowing that corruption will never happen. One of the corruption cases that caught my attention was about Joseph Miedzianowski. According to NewOne, Joseph Miedzianowski is ranked number 4 as the most corrupt cop in the U.S. of all time. Joseph Miedzianowski was a Chicago police officer for 22 years. He served as a police officer and a drug kingpin shaking down drug dealers. He also ran Chicago’s gang unit and his own gang dealing drugs (NewsOne. 2011).

In this paper I will discuss the history of the NYPD Corruption. I will address the founding of the department in 1845 and a few early scandals. The New York City Police Department officially is the largest municipal police force in the United States Established in 1845, the agency has primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City.The NYPD is one of the oldest police departments established in the U.S tracing its roots back to the seventeenth century. The NYPD has specialized services, including the Emergency Service Unit, K9, harbor patrol, air support, bomb disposal, counter-terrorism, criminal intelligence, anti-gang, anti-organized crime, narcotics, public transportation and public

A lawsuit was filed on March 21, 2016 by Fresno Police Sergeant Cervantes who is suing Fresno Police Department and three other detectives. He states workplace harassment and discrimination due to his Hispanic ethnicity. Further details state, “Sgt. Paul Cervantes accuses Sgt. Tim Tietjen and Detectives Brad Alcorn and Cary Phelps of smearing his reputation with false accusations and spreading rumors that he’s a dirty cop. Tietjen, Alcorn and Phelps are white.”(Lopez, para.2) Such accusations can lead to further tensions, costly legal battles, and government investigations. Sergeant Cervantes seeks unspecified damages, attorney fees for discrimination, retaliation, defamation and malicious prosecution. He also states he has been subjected to such discrimination and harassment since January 2008 to the present. Furthermore, it is not the first time Fresno Police Department has been sued for similar incidences. There is an ongoing problem in the department that needs to be resolve.

“A decade ago, Hempstead’s only full-time black police officer sued, alleging that Chief Smith had dismissed him on a trumped-up charge after he complained about his supervisor’s racial slurs. An African-American couple also sued, alleging that Chief Smith had turned them away when they reported that a white man had assaulted

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?

“Ethical issues regarding corruption and off-duty behavior have become an increasing challenge in criminal justice” (Writing, 1999-2013). Within the criminal justice system, ethics can be complicated by the moral implications of actions. Differences in cultures and different circumstances can affect the individual moral compass. However, all departments of criminal justice operate by a certain code of ethics and by certain standards. But those standards and ethics often become challenged due to issues relating to police brutality, off duty conduct and corruption that we hear about all of the time through the media.

Corruption within the New York Police Department is a quickly growing phenomenon; to an extent, this is largely due to the cop culture that encourages silence and draws the line at honesty. The good, honest officers are afraid to speak up against co-workers and in the process become corrupt themselves. When police departments were first established in the mid-nineteenth century, corruption quickly followed suit. It began with minor acts of misconduct and today deals with serious criminal activities. Scholars have noted that there is a strong correlation between the officers taking part in corrupt acts and officers wanting to fit in with the culture. In this paper, I argue that the deeper an officer in the New York police department gets into the police culture, the more likely it is that they become involved in narcotic corruption

For years police corruption has been a major problem in American society but where is the line between moral and unethical police corruption, many modern movies address this vary issue. Some films portray how types of police corruption can have a positive influence on society, while others show the dark side of police corruption. Many law enforcement agents join the criminal justice with the basic idea of "justice for all," however, most of them do not realize that the nice guy doesn't always win. Even though there are vast amounts of movies which specifically address police corruption we will use three main movies for our argument today, mostly LA Confidential, however, also Training Day.

Facts: Murray Taxpayer was previously employed by a company who was illegally dumping chemicals into a river. Murray had knowledge concerning these illegal activities of his employer and made an ethical decision to report this to the Environmental Protection Agency. Upon inspection, the Environmental Protection Agency determined that Murrays employer was in fact illegally dumping and was appropriately fined for the charges. Murray’s employer reacted to his whistleblowing by firing him and making deliberate efforts to prevent Murray from gaining employment elsewhere. Murray then sued his former employer for damaging

Police executives have always had different issues within the police department. Most police executives try to find a quick fix in order to solve the issue of police misconduct. Police misconduct is defined as inappropriate action taken by police officers in relation with their official duties (Police Misconduct Law & Legal Definition, n.d.). In order to solve this issue, one must acknowledge their different challenges, overcome the “code of silence”, and find out the role of organizational culture.

In 1994 a report by the Mollen commission on police corruption in New York exposed disproportionate corruption within the department. Violent crime, including gang type activity, cops in uniform routinely storming drug locations and stealing narcotics, money weapons and whatever they felt like taking. On duty police officers riding alongside drug dealers, providing protection while the dealers carried big amounts of drugs and cash. The commission also found cops who became drug dealers themselves starting up their own drug dealing networks and delivery centers. (Neighborhood Explanations) Although most officers are honest and hard-working, the Mollen report exposed serious, violent activity by some in the department.

As seen throughout, it is not uncommon for a detective to get demoted to be a simple officer or even fired completely if he messes up in a way that cannot be fixed. There are plenty of people in the police force, so losing one is not a big deal as they can be easily replaced. For it is easier to get rid of someone than to deal with their repercussions from doing the wrong thing. The police force is sometimes very impersonal with their coworkers as they are just trying to follow the law. Through the harsh realities and sights those in the police force have to see and deal with on a daily basis, they slowly begin to have to shut off feelings all together, which is very hard to turn back on. The higher in ranking one becomes, the less they begin to care about those below them as they only wish to gain the next ranking. The police force has those that are deemed as replaceable and they do not bother caring about their feelings on most

Callahan is an inspector for the San Francisco Police Department. He keeps his methods within the guidelines of the law, but pushes his limits as far as he can, seemingly prepared to ignore any restrictions that might get in his way, waiting to lunge at every chance possible to use deadly force. He wants justice any way possible, and fights for the victims with complete and utter disdain for the bad guys. He is constantly in hot water with his superiors because of his methods, state prosecutors always hesitant to touch his cases because of the lists of violations against the department that come along with them (Steigal, 1971).

The tacit and fundamental understanding of a policeman's duty is to obey the law when implementing the law but reality begs to differ as police corruption is a familiar issue in our society. Denny Malone is a significant tragic hero in Don Winslow’s “The Force” that demonstrates the different perspectives of police corruption through the weaknesses of human nature. As readers go on a whirlwind journey with Malone to an ultimately tragic ending, he reveals a lot more than what meets the eye about police corruption. Although Malone is seen as a heroic cop in the eyes of the public, he is seen as the most despicable cop in the eyes of criminals and other dishonorable cops. Nevertheless, his path to redemption shows the many flaws of the justice system such as the financial temptations policemen encounter, exposure to violence that causes mental health problems, and the overwhelming external and internal pressures they face.