The movie Serpico depicts the life of a New York Police Department officer in 1973. In Serpico, Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) challenges his community and his police force to reveal the corruption that takes place by those who are supposed to protect and abide by the law. Gastafson (2010) depicts what the hero, Frank Serpico, of a cop film genre film will experience playing this role, “The typical corrupt cop film presents an honest or repentant cop as its protagonist. He is confronted with individual-level, small group, or systemic corruption within his department.” Throughout the production, Al Pacino is faced with internal struggles of whether he should risk his job and image to release the crooks within the law enforcement he worked for. Director, …show more content…
He does not understand the mentality of what the cops are doing and why they are able to get away with it. Frank Serpico feels like he is under appreciated as a cop. He is a plainclothes cop and works towards completion of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. According to the information on Serpico: Detail View of Movie (n.d.), “After two years in the department, however, Frank remains an outsider, working harder than the other officers and affecting the look of the street hippies amongst whom he works in plainclothes.” Frank Serpico put in the work and effort needed to obtain the completion of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, but still has yet to fit in due to him not acting as a …show more content…
Delaney does nothing with the information and Frank knows that if he goes to the newspaper, the other officers will not respect him. According to Gustafson (2010), he states “Heroes must weigh the pros and cons of breaking the code. If they talk, they will become rats, losing respect for themselves and the respect of those around them.” Frank Serpico wants to stay an honest cop, but soon learns that the department cannot do the investigation itself, so he decides to speak to the mayor. He moves to a new department in Brooklyn and during an arrest of a drug pusher, he gets shot. Frank Serpico is in the hospital and after getting out, he testifies before the Knapp Commission (Lumet & De Laurentiis,
Police corruption is a practice of illegal and unprofessional behavior for improper reason to achieve approved goals by their officers. “The Seven Five,” documentary looks at police misconduct at Brooklyn’s 75th Precinct during the 1980s. The documentary turns into a narrative feature combined of interviews with key investigators, Michael Dowd, and Adam Diaz a deported Dominican drug dealer. Police Officer Michael Dowd explained his rogue activities during his assignment at rid the City of narcotics traffickers. Instead, he enlisted the services of other officers who began robbing drug dealers of their money, drugs or guns, or going into business with them to distribute narcotic and weapons. Dowd identified his formative years at the Department as laying the groundwork for his corrupt
The movie “Scarface” is the story of one these immigrants who came to the United States seeking money and power but ended up with much more than he ever excepted. Al Pacino plays the main
Serpico by Peter Maas is about how a man was a cop and stood by what he thought was right and wrong. It is about how in the 1960s there was a lot of corruption in the New York Police Department. It is about how a man deals with payoffs, shakedowns, drug dealers, etc. Serpico was one of those cops that couldn’t be paid off or be quiet with what has happened on the field. I have yet to read the whole book but I will discuss what I have read and the concepts that I understood.
Serpico 's original intent was not to be a "whistleblower" within the Department, but rather all he wanted to do initially was to be a Police Officer and not accept any bribes, payoffs, or favors as a result of his professional position within the community (Petit, 2011). As a consequence of his testimony before the Knapp Commission in 1971, Serpico was ostracized by his peers as a deviant for being conscientious; ergo, although it cannot be proven, it is believed that he was ultimately set up to be shot during a drug raid in which he was seriously wounded. To this day, Frank Serpico questions why fellow cops never called in a code 10-13 (officer down) after he took a bullet in the face on Feb. 3, 1971 (McShane, 2012). He is viewed as both a hero and a pariah and unfortunately, to this day he receives active hate mail from active and retired police
Cop in the Hood has taught me a lot about how police work in a city really is. The chapter titled “911 is a Joke” intrigued me the most, for mostly two reasons. First the story at the beginning of the chapter really put perspective on how some people really live in the inner cities and how a police officer would have to react to the situation. Secondly, growing up in a middle class suburb I was always taught the 911 was only to be called in a time of emergency. It was a sacred number that I had never had to call. Me and my friends would joke on each other and type “911” on our flip phones and threaten to call, but never will. When Moskos said the 911 was a joke I was taken back by it because it when against everything I was taught.
Police Subculture and corruption are two of the many concepts that are portrayed in the move Serpico, staring Al Pacino. Frank Serpico dreamed about being on the force since he was nine years old. His dream would than come true soon after by graduating from the police academy and then becoming an officer for the New York Police Department in the late 60’s. It didn’t take long after, for Frank to realize that his dream would soon become his nightmare. Frank would soon discover that the loyalty and trust that comes with the uniform was only apparent in his dreams and imagination. The subculture that was created between the officers was something that didn’t interest Frank in the slightest way. In fact, Frank took many measures to put an end to
If the name Serpico sounds familiar, it may be remembered from a movie. Frank Serpico is portrayed in the 1973 movie, “Serpico” starring Al Pacino. This movie may be loved by many but it’s important to realize that its characters are real men and the story line is very real. Although most police officers work very hard to do their jobs within ethical standards of the law, it is often not hard to find some type of corruption within a department.
Dowd becomes a patrol cop in Brooklyn’s 75th Precinct, in East New York in 1983, and within a year, he formed a crew of cops that began robbing drug dealers. In 1986 known on the streets as ‘’Mike the Cop”, he began charging drug dealers as much as $8,000 for protection. And also, He began to participate in kidnapping of drug dealers and sold stolen drugs on Long Island. In 1988, NYPD Internal Affairs Sgt. Joe Trimbole began to investigate officer Dowd, but he didn’t receive enough support from the New York Police Department to prosecute him
In Orson Welles’ classic film noir production Touch of Evil, a Mexican police officer named Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston), becomes the target of an American police officer named Hank Quinlin (Orson Welles), when Vargas attempts to expose Quinlin framing a murder suspect. Quinlin, a celebrity among police officers has become corrupt in his practices and is willing to go any lengths including committing murder to uphold his reputation. Vargas is an honest man who faces Quinlin’s corruption to protect the rights of the accused. In doing so, he puts his wife in danger, who ends up the victim of a plot against Vargas. Although Vargas appears to be the hero, the viewer experiences frustration with his character due to his negligence concerning his wife. Caught between the accuser and the accused, American deputy Pete Menzies (Joseph Calleia) is loyal to Quinlin but later helps Vargas when the truth is revealed.
...wn?” And Goren responds, “That’s the thing, I am nothing like you and never will be.” And when Goren goes on to ask about the missing cocaine, the police officer continues to talk and says, “What you never paid informants by drugs to get the bigger fish!?” This implies that he skims off the top of the narcotic drugs that are brought in and takes the extra to bribe the informants to talk. At the end of it all, Goren is seen as a rat but he was the detective that actually used good ethical values to keep the community and people safe. While the other police officer uses corrupt and immoral choices to get what he wants, which in the end had someone killed.
Police corruption is a difficult issue cities have to deal with and one of the oldest problems in the police force. Corruption can be defined as the mistreatment of public power for personal benefit or private and the use of excessive force, either emotional or physical. In this essay I will explain in detail federal indictments of Los Angeles County Sheriff officers for mistreatment of jail inmates and visitors. Another topic I will explain is the transfer of Los Angeles County Sheriff hired officers with questionable background. Finally, I will end by analyzing the hiring of new Sheriff deputies under the “Friends of the Sheriff” program.
For years police corruption has been a major problem in American society but where is the line between moral and unethical police corruption, many modern movies address this vary issue. Some films portray how types of police corruption can have a positive influence on society, while others show the dark side of police corruption. Many law enforcement agents join the criminal justice with the basic idea of “justice for all,” however, most of them do not realize that the nice guy doesn’t always win. Even though there are vast amounts of movies which specifically address police corruption we will use three main movies for our argument today, mostly LA Confidential, however, also Training Day.
It is often said that power brings corruption, but in reality it is an individual’s lack of character, self-discipline, and integrity that leads to corruption. Law enforcement can bring many temptations on the job, and maintaining an up most level of personal integrity can often times be very difficult. The very nature of the job surrounds officers with all of the bad things that society, produces. There can be an endless amount of training and rules put into place to try and deter officers from committing unethical acts, but in the end it really just comes down to the specific individual and their willingness to do the right thing.
Police corruption is a nationwide problem that has been going on for many years. Not only is corruption a problem on our own U.S. soil, but police practices of corruption go as far east as Europe and Asia. Many studies, polls and examinations were taken to find out how exactly what the general publics’ opinions of the police are. Officers receive a lot of scrutiny over this issue, but for good reason.
Vicchio, Stephen. “Ethics and Police Integrity.” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. July 1997: 8-12. EBSCOhost. Web. 12 Nov 2013