Frank Serpico
Francesco Vincent Serpico was born on April 14, 1936 in Brooklyn, NY. At the age of 18 Serpico enlisted in the United States army and spent two years in Korea. In 1959 Frank Serpico graduated form the police academy and was sworn into the New York City Police Department.
From the =Beginning of Serpico’s career in the NYPD he was forced with having to defend his integrity to the police department. While a rookie taking part in field officer training, there was a rape in progress call sent out over the radio. Serpico, wanting to do nothing but help wanted to take the call though it was out of his sector and against his veteran officers advice. Frank later forced to give up his collar despite the fact he apprehended the remaining rape suspects on his own. Being a rookie officer left him susceptible to officers with seniority …show more content…
Frank recovered, losing hearing in his left ear, and in December of 1971 testified in front of the KNAPP Commission.
Ultimately Serpico received what he always wanted, a brass shield and a promotion to detective. Of course there was no customary ceremony when Frank was awarded detective status, he was called and told to pick his badge up from the office. This was one of the many things that displayed the distain the department and city officials had for Frank Serpico.
In 1972 after receiving a gold metal of honor, Serpico retired from the New York City Police Department and moved to Switzerland, where he stayed for almost a decade. In 1980 Serpico back to New York City and now lives a quiet life upstate.
Frank Serpico was the first and probably most famous New York police officer to report and go as far as to testify on the department wide corruption. He never gave up, never gave in, and always stayed true and loyal to the oath he took when graduating from the police academy in