NCJ Number
121285
Date Published
1989
Length
7 pages
Annotation
A retired New York City police officer describes his growing awareness of corruption among his colleagues and the process by which he was gradually corrupted.
Abstract
At the start of his career he believed that all police and those who supported them were good and that everyone else was evil. His first experience with police corruption occurred when he inadvertently saw a patrol sergeant trying to remove a ring from the finger of an old man who had just died of a heart attack and whom the author had tried to resuscitate. The author worked as an undercover officer in narcotics enforcement and gradually became involved in supplying drugs to an addict who was his informant. The author has concluded that 5 percent of all police officers would have been criminals if they had not chosen a career in law enforcement, 5 percent will remain honest regardless of the temptations, and the other 90 percent will yield to the culture of their agencies and communities.