Weekend Buff

Internal Affairs (1990)

The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau was a miserable job. I got dragooned into that assignment for almost two and a half years (the NYPD drafts supervisors there). It was miserable. At that time, the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) was investigating almost every allegation of corruption or serious misconduct. Almost all of those allegations were clearly false on their face. You knew the result before you opened that case.

There were reasons for that. First of all, one important lesson of investigations is that even the most ludicrous stories you get told are sometimes true, so you have to keep an open mind. Second, IAB had civilian oversight and a mandate to fully investigate most allegations. There were hard rules and you had to do your due diligence on all of them. Bosses would often kick back cases simply based on the size of the case folder - “You have more to do”.

That was frustrating; investigating cases you knew were going nowhere for months.

However, every once in a while, your team would get assigned a case that seemed more legit. The cop may have had similar allegations in the past, have a bad history both on the job and occasionally prior to getting hired, hung out with perps (a violation of department policy), or the story was simply plausible. I didn’t mind investigating those; it was a real case, and I have no use for dirty cops that would make our job harder.

In the beginning of the movie Internal Affairs, LAPD Sergeant Raymond Avilla, played by Andy Garcia, is experiencing his first tour assigned to Internal Affairs. I can tell you from personal experience, that is a tough day. You are on the other side, and no one wants to talk to you. On day one, you are an outcast. You don’t feel like a cop anymore. That’s tough for someone who loves police work.

Avilla meets his new partner, Sergeant Amy Wallace, played by Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne, Lady Bird). Wallace is an outcast already, she is used to it. She puts Avilla right to work on an investigation into his old academy classmate, the strung out Officer Van Stretch, played by Billy Baldwin. Stretch looks like a corrupt cop - and he is. Battling addiction, beating his wife, and beating and flaking suspects.

His partner is Officer Dennis Peck, played by Richard Gere at the height of his fame. On the outside Peck seems like the perfect cop. Always working, always meticulously uniformed, and well liked by the brass. He was a networker and a schmoozer; someone who knew all the angles - and incredibly corrupt. That may seem like a surprise, but my experience told another story.

One thing that surprised me about working in Internal Affairs is that the cops I thought would be beyond reproach were sometimes among the very few NYPD cops that were engaged in serious corruption. Hard workers with great arrest numbers made up about half of the five or six cases of legitimate corruption that my team investigated.

That was the case in the film. Gere’s character was not a do-nothing, or a “hairbag” in NYPD parlance. He was good at police work. Gathering intelligence, making good arrests, and working hard. He was also stealing, planting weapons, blackmailing, and committing homicides. He was a one-man crime wave.

When Officer Van Stretch agrees to cooperate with Internal Affairs, Peck is the first to know. He has to get rid of Stretch to stay out of jail. That’s when things start to unravel for Peck and the drama begins to unfold..

Peck is a master manipulator and Avilla is a relentless pursuer. It is clear that the two are headed for an epic showdown.

Director and score writer Mike Figgis does a good job with the movie. He assembles a talented cast and spins an entertaining, though fantastical story.

But Richard Gere steals the show. His Officer Dennis Peck is an enigma that he largely created on his own. His character is criminal mastermind that didn’t really exist, but Hollywood likes its bad guys larger than life, and Gere nails the role. The Peck character was not based on a real cop and the movie is not “inspired by a true story”, but it makes for good cinema.

Internal Affairs is a psychological thriller that runs about two hours. It is a good mix of drama and action as the protagonist and antagonist square off in a battle of wills. I couldn’t find it for free, but you can rent it for the usual $4. This weekend take a look at Hollywood’s take on the dark side of policing. It’s over the top, but entertaining nonetheless.

Thanks for reading The Ops Desk. Stay Safe!