Jermaine Carmichael
Criminal Justice 102
Ms. Naide
03/26/14
The reason I chose Serpico is because I thought this book would talk about a cop trying to do the right thing, which was to change the crooked system that allowed corruption. This non-fiction talks about the criminality that takes place in this book. For example Serpico was plainclothesmen which was patrolmen working out of uniform on special assignments like narcotics, prostitution, and gambling, so it was a lot of opportunities and temptation for graft to occur. This book proves the point that people in power always abuses it because the plainclothesmen were just out to get a profit from illegal activities that you were hired to prevent.
The topic this book expounds on
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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?
I’m glad that I chose this book because it taught me that one person can have a huge impact on an issue that he or she feels strongly about. I thought Serpico would have become a replica of those crooked cops. Who would of thought Serpico would be the police officer to deny graft, bribery and other criminal benefits? That’s the most appealing information because who would chose justice over money? Apparently Frank Serpico thought that corruption wasn’t going to get him to a detective rank. He believed the only way was to endeavor. A quote from the book was “the
Francisco’s life suddenly became way too hard for him to handle, so he ran away from his problems to a boarding school. One quote from Francisco that proved him and Reignbow weren’t on the best of terms was, “ If I had told you the truth, you would have never given the money to me, Reignbow.” (p.123) Another aspect of the book that I liked was how it portrayed the characters’ friendships. The characters in this book were so loyal to each other that they didn’t stop being friends even when they wronged them. Francisco was loyal to Vincent because he used five hundred dollars to bail him out of jail.
Michael Dowd, dubbed the name “Dirtiest Cop in New York City”, prospered enough than any US President’s annual salary, calculating by the amount of money he stole in robberies he and his partner, Kenny Eurell, planned in their patrol car to the eight grand a week they were paid from a drug gang leader. He and his fellow partners-in-crime would use police tactics to rob dealers. Certainly, Dowd was not only intelligent in his mischievous ways, but he had balls and didn’t rat out on his partners, which made him fearless of the consequences that might follow. He may be nervous at times, but was never feared of being caught. He was determined, demanding, obnoxious, greedy individual, and would go after anyone that threatened him and owed him money.
Now that I have presented a brief understanding and background of the case against the five officers and the struggles police officers and the community face in South Camden, NJ, I will examine how five officers steered off of a virtuous path by the failures of the individuals and the environmental role in their demise. Specifically, I will identify the unethical behavior and contributing factors, provide my ethical opinion on the situation, the effects on the community, and how the
Cop: A true story is a book that details the true story of an Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer, Michael Middleton. During the novel, Middleton reminisces stories of his over twenty-year service to in police force. He revels and faces obstacles such as: institutionalized racism, death, drugs, social injustice, personal challenges, and a lot more issues. Among those issues were gang violence. As a police officer, Middleton went through a period of facing off with the infamous Crips, Bloods and Black Panther gangs.
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
Serpico is about a New York police officer, Frank Serpico, or “Paco”, who got shot in the face for reporting police corruption in the New York Police Department (NYPD). Fellow officers did not help him when he was wounded. This movie portrayed real life events and factors that go on in our police forces today. There are a lot of ethical issues that go on in this movie. Men are beaten, punished, lied to, and deceived by police officers. Serpico testified against all police corruption and was left derelict in a crucial time of need. Officers today need to work together in a positive and ethical way in order to get their job done the right way.
Chapter 1 of Character and Cops, Delattre writes, that the police are essential to society, the police are required to be the ones who keep law and order. Delattre explains that throughout the book he uses his twenty five years of experiences working with people in criminal justice, to explain and answer moral questions that arise working in the criminal justice field. He then outlines what he will elaborate on in each chapter later on, such ethics pertaining to individuals leading all the way to problems from society. Delattre, at the end of the chapter, reinforces his experience, by writing that he has worked with and seen many honorable and ethically good cops, but at the same time, he has seen his fair share of corrupt and ethically bad cops.
The acts of legal corruption detailed in this novel vary widely in character and severity. On the ground level of the legal system, the police force is described as an immoral hoard that is often more concerned with taking
Serpico” is a film that based on the of New York City Police Officer named Frank Serpico and the difficult obstacles he had to face working for the NYPD. Serpico is a “cops cop” that had to deal with persuasive organized corruption, police crime, and ethical dilemmas etc. All these obstacles were hard for Serpico to work with on a daily basis. He refused to take bribes and his co-workers begin distrust him. Serpico informed his superiors about the corruption but they did nothing about it. The superior’s just transferred him from the Bronx. Brooklyn, and Harlem. The higher ups in the police department were more concerned if Serpico spoke to any outside private organizations about the police misconduct.
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
After the civil war, local politicians rewarded their supporters with jobs as police officers. The officer were not trained and there was not a standard to become an officer. The are were event when entire departments were involved in misconduct and corruption. There was not much hope in this era because there was a lack of supervision that allowed officers to behave the way that they pleased. (Walker, Samuel, and Richards, M. 1996)
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.
Police corruption has been an issue that has left a lasting blemish on communities and society. Police corruption usually derives a lack of respect officer(s) feel that either the city does not care about them or they are not paid enough for their duties. Throughout this essay I will give you a better understanding on the issue that is police corruption by using terminology from the book such as the “rotten apple theory”, “blue wall of silence” and “deviant subculture”. With corruption this affects the view we have on police and it is up to us not fall into the trap of negativity and create a better society for the future.
Some argue that corrupt police officers are simply the product of a corrupt culture of the agency they work for. These officers are socially introduced to a number of informal rules when they begin employment. This process and these rules serve two main purposes. First, this process is designed to minimize the chances of external or internal controls being mobilized to address the behaviors and, secondly, to keep corrupt activities at a level that is acceptable and likely undetectable. The rule most often referred to in this connection, is the “Code of Silence.” Officers are socialized into not cooperating with investigations regarding fellow officers. Whether or not the officer participates in corrupt activities for financial gain, an officer’s adherence to the “Code of Silence” places them squarely amongst the corrupt of the profession (Price, 1972).