In Defense of the NYPD
We have seen in recent weeks a scandal emerging both in City Hall and more recently the NYPD. The Police Commissioner, Edward Caban, had his phone taken by the FBI. Several other high-ranking NYPD executives received the same treatment. Mayor Adams himself had his phone taken and may have been on a wiretap. Several different investigations surround both the PC and the Mayor.
This looks as bad as it could get for the NYPD. Institutional, widespread, corruption was, for decades, a way of life within the Police Department. The 1970-1972 Knapp Commission uncovered a system of graft and payoffs that appeared to go to the highest offices of the Department.
This current unravelling scandal makes it appear that the system of graft of the pre-Knapp era continues to this day. I can say unequivocally that it does not. The NYPD has made remarkable progress over the decades to end corruption. The Department has little tolerance for serious misconduct among the rank and file.
When we got on the job in 1997, I really had no idea what I was getting into. I came from a family of FDNY firemen. My grandfather, father, and uncle all protected the citizens of the Bronx and Harlem for decades. I was going to do the same. My intent was to bide time in the PD until my number was called for the FDNY. I didn’t know any cops, and cops were not looked upon particularly highly in my family.
As I was preparing for the NYPD academy, the Abner Louima assault came to light. Brooklyn cops allegedly sexually assaulting a man with a plunger. What was I getting myself into? Towards the end of the academy, several cops from Midtown South were suspended and later arrested for protecting and using brothels on their beats. This was looking worse by the day. I seriously considered leaving.
Getting out into a precinct I found my fears were mostly unfounded. Cops were pretty normal. Degrees of dedication varied, but overall, most did a good job. Mostly guys and girls from different backgrounds out to make a living. Most took pride in their occupation. Some came from generations of cops. There was no wild corruption, no shady pressures, certainly no institutional graft.
That is not to say that there was no misconduct. Two guys in my precinct got arrested for stealing. One guy failed a drug test. As a sergeant one of my cops got fired for using a fake license plate. A guy I worked with as a Lieutenant got caught “taking care of” tickets for people and was fired.
But I never had a single cop approach me with an offer of corruption. Never a serious act of misconduct committed in front of me. No money being stolen, no protection requests. I don’t even recall anyone asking to refrain from enforcement activity for any reason (probably the most common form of corruption). And I wasn’t hiding inside. I considered myself to be a hard worker.
Moving up the ranks, you had to be mindful of corruption hazards. Set safeguards for your people. Ensure everyone was doing the right thing and know where they were during their tour. Punish people who were going in the wrong direction. The police department felt the same way. Internal Affairs and Inspections were around. They enforced the rules for those that needed “encouragement” to behave themselves. Maybe they were in the wrong line of work, but with 35,000 cops, not all of them are going to live up to the moniker, New York’s Finest.
I worked in Internal Affairs for two-and-a-half years. What surprised me most was how minor the allegations we investigated were and how few of them were plausibly true. We investigate each one regardless. They were certainly necessary, sometimes serious, but we were not as busy as I would have thought. All the misconduct or corruption seemed to be one cop or a small handful doing the wrong thing. Never systemic. It was the most boring and unfulfilling job I ever had.
I have been retired a few years. The police department changed, but not that much. The current set of allegations is, certainly, very serious. The allegations go to the top of the department. It screams systemic corruption from the outside. It is not.
If they turn out to be true, the current corrupt practice will be gone as soon as the people committing them are gone. Additional preventative safeguards will be instituted. Other NYPD executives will learn from the mistakes made: Don’t go along with misconduct, even if it comes from the highest reaches of the Department.
A leader can effect change within an organization. Let’s hope the current leadership’s alleged changes are quickly undone and the NYPD can regain its reputation for being the gold standard for fighting crime the right way. That was always my experience.
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Great article, Chris.
The clowns change, not the circus.