Preview

Police Corruption

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
893 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Police Corruption
Arnold Chavez
Professor Satka
Criminal Justice
October 25, 2010 The movie I chose was “Serpico.” The setting of the movie begins with Frank Serpico the main character graduating from the Police Academy, He is determined to be a “good” cop and represent everything that the image of a law enforcer is meant to be. However, where there is bad there is good and the police force is no exception. No matter where Serpico goes Police Corruption seems to be all around and his morals are challenged time and time again. He however wants to change this and break down on Police Corruption, but of course with every department being corrupt instead of making it better for himself he is slowly digging his grave. The movie shows that corruption in the police department is very common and those whom are part of will do anything for it not to be uncovered even at the cost of losing officers.
The following represent a few examples of how police corruption works and as well some types of police corruption Frank has to deal with. 1. At his first precinct Serpico already begins to encounter corruption beginning with a sort of “benefit.” When Serpico goes to get lunch with the other officer they stand in line and order and then are told it will be right over. In other word they get it for free without paying and in return quote, “we give him a break on double parking.” The type of corruption represented here is free meals or services. In order to avoid the ticket for double parking the owner gives free meals working as a bribe. Technically he is protected from parking tickets and he just provides a benefit. 2. While on patrol incidents are reported through the radio and likewise it occurs to Serpico however, and his partner represents two different police “personalities.” Serpico is the super-cop while his partner is the lazy cop whom is avoiding the call because quote, “it is not their sector”. He does all the work captures one of the criminals and when he returns to the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 1527 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the 1960’s, one plainclothes officer is sent out to work Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. His name is Frank Serpico, an Italian American charged with the task of exposing various racketeering in his district. However, what he discovered in 1967 was not any organized crime. What he discovered was the corruption of his own police force, the NYPD.…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Serpico Movie Corruption

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Becoming a police can be a good thing if you don’t abuse your power and stand by what is right instead of wrong. Many times there are good cops and then there are the corrupted cops who don’t follow the rules and pretend to have blind eyes to the crime that’s surrounding them. There is a movie named “Serpico” it is a true story about an honest New York cop Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) who didn’t believe in rampant corruption in the force and tried to rectify the corruption only to have his comrades’ turn against him.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Juarez, J. A. (Ed.). (2004). Brotherhood of Corruption: A cop breaks the silence on police abuse, brutality, and racial profiling. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press.…

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Police corruption has plagued this country for decades. Whether it's done out of need or greed, it affects every community and has tarnished the image of police departments across the country. Community relations are a vital part of police work and without it officers have a hard time doing their job. Corruption causes distrust and prevents officer from getting cooperation from the public. Police corruption has been glorified and documented in several movies throughout the years. It has been shown in old westerns with crooked sheriffs to more recent movies where corruption is seen from the lowest officer to the highest government officials. The reasoning for the corruption varies from character to character, however the end result is usually the same; either the officer pays or those around him do.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mike Rich

    • 2507 Words
    • 11 Pages

    In September of 1959, Frank Serpico joined the New York Police Department as a probationary patrolman. After working restlessly for several months, Serpico was then promoted as a full-time patrolman in March of 1960. He was then assigned to the 81st police precinct, where he was exposed to arresting people in drugs, prostitution, and gambling. As an upstanding police officer, Serpico was offered numerous bribes under his new department but refused to accept them from criminals. Soon enough, he discovered that many of his fellow officers saw these bribes as something else, frequently accepting them and pocketing evidence as well. After witnessing continuous accounts of corruption within the system and the ever-growing stress brought upon him; in 1967 Serpico decided to report “the systematic and widespread corruption” to the police department, soon to find that his report…

    • 2507 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Article Review cjus300

    • 617 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Our society has become corrupt at each level, and the police force is no exception. While most officers are committed to maintaining honor and integrity in their service to the public, there will be crime or misconduct among both female and male officers (Gottschalk, 2011). Police officers should be upholding the image of sacrifice, dignity, and overall competency (Gottschalk, 2011). Unfortunately, corruption can happen and add distrust amongst the public toward the public service of police officers. These actions of misconduct can include oppression, racial profiling, physical or emotional abuse of power, overall mistreatment of citizens or prisoners in their care, extortion, misuse of information or perjury, and overall manipulation (Gottschalk, 2011).…

    • 617 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Serpico

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The movie Serpico is about police corruption Frank Serpico, or known as “Paco” which is a police officer who testifies against police corruption, also who got shot in the face for during a drug arrest. Which after that being taken place, none of the officers made one action. Serpico was abandoned by society because after testifying with many people about the corruption really made no difference. Serpico was a good cop for example an officer beaten a young, after that Serpico had took the young male across the street for a cup of coffee treating him well talking with him to get the information that’s needed for the crime the young boy committed, instead of the violent act. All Frank Serpico was about was serving well to protect others with no question. Officers did not work together in a positive and ethical way to do things the right way; they also were accepting bribes from criminals. Overall the police in this film were using their own source of power to commit crimes. While Frank Serpico did his best to stop the police corruption to serve well to his community.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The leaders of criminal justice organizations are faced with many challenges on a daily basis. Some of these challenges include noble cause corruption, communication skills, conflict and power, legal and political challenges, and shortage of help. According to "Ethics in Policing" (n.d.), noble cause corruption in policing is defined as "corruption committed in the name of good ends, corruption that happens when police officers care too much about their work. It is corruption committed in order to get the bad guys off the streets…the corruption of police power, when officers do bad things because they believe that the outcomes will be good” (Noble Cause Corruption). Some examples of noble cause corruption include falsifying or planting evidence, committing perjury court, writing incorrect information on police reports, and abusing police authority. Ensuring that employees are trained properly can help prevent corruption.…

    • 1494 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Police corruption seems to be a problem in the United States as well as most of the world. The simplest explanation why corruption exists is that the police officers are human beings and as such are prone to give in to temptation. Another widely held opinion is that the officers don’t get enough pay. No matter what are the reasons police corruption is abuse of authority and power; it is also betraying to the public trust. The researches proved that in socioeconomic disadvantage countries the percentage of corruption is higher. Countries like Zealand, Denmark, Finland and Canada has very few cases of corruption (pg. 176). Then we have countries like Afghanistan, Hungary and Pakistan where the corruption level is very high. According to…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A few weeks after the King incident, a drug scandal in New York erupted into another police brutality incident. This prompted an investigation on police corruption by the Mollen Commission. The investigation found many occurrences of police abuses, including brutality, corruption, and perjury. A century before the Mollen Commission, in 1894 the Lexow Commission in New York discovered the same occurrences of police brutality. This shows that police corruption has been going on for many years and is continuing to happen now. Although the public less accepts police brutality now, it is believed that most police corruption is done “underground” or through legal loopholes.…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Police Corruption Essay

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Corruption establishes largely because of a police culture that exalts loyalty over integrity. Armao & Cornfeld (1994) suggest that honest officers are silenced by their fear of ``ratting'' on another cop no matter how grave the crime. Corruption is not uncommon for those officers who remain undercover; in fact, it is an easier gateway to fall custom to the "bad apples". Corruption as defined by Roebuck and Barker (1974) as any form of ‘deviant, dishonest, improper, unethical or criminal behavior by a police officer. Police departments take pride in their progressions or achievements, therefore in response to corruption, they avoid uncovering it. Grant (2002) goes on to maintain the fact that not only do the en-suing scandals embarrass the…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    3. Perito, D. B. (2011, November). Police Corruption: What Past Scandals Teach Us About Current Challenges. Retrieved from United States Institute of Peace: http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/resources/SR%20294.pdf…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nypd Corruption

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Police corruption is a problem that has and will continue to affect us all, whether we are civilian or law enforcement officers. An examination of any newspapers or police-related publications on any given day will have an article about an officer that got busted committing some kind of illegal act. Since its beginnings, many aspects of it have changed, however, a lot of it remains and it seems to just keep growing. Even though being a policeman is one of the most commendable and honorable professions in society, there have been certain instances that demonstrate misconduct and corruption in terms of unethical violence, illegal drug abuse, bribery and unjustified arrests.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Dark Knight” directed by Christopher Nolan, is a film where Batman fights the psychopathic and crime hungry Joker, who tries every way to corrupt and end Batman’s life. The Joker tries to take Batman down by exploiting his weakness such as his love and family. One of the big things the Joker does in this movie is he corrupts people or makes more corrupt. This film displays many examples of corruption; one corruption that stands out in this film is police corruption. These men that contribute to police corruption are men that are willing to anything to have power and control over others. Police corruption affects our society in many ways: it affects…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics