Very interesting read. A common 'comeback' whenever one brings up bad cops is the old "oh it's just a few bad apples" (ignoring the actual meaning of that phrase in its full form - one bad apple can spoil the bunch). Often they point out that it is just some cops that are bad, corrupt, violent, etc., and that other cops are 'good cops' simply by merit of not doing it (or not being caught, at least). But in reality, doing the basic bare minimum of your job and not beating the crap out of someone, abusing power, etc., is an awfully low bar to call someone 'good'.
The sad reality is, the actual good cops. The ones that whistleblow, report corruption and abuses. Those cops tend to be punished by the rest of the supposed 'good cops' (and their even worse colleagues) for rocking the boat. From death threats to abuses, to destruction of their careers by their fellow cops, sometimes even suspicious deaths or even 'backup' taking unusually long to show up after it is requested for a dangerous situation, the actual good cops don't tend to last long.
My brother in law was a good cop. I say was, because when he rocked the boat at his small department down in Florida and started bringing some light to another officer's abusive behaviors on up the chain of command... he started to get threats. Threatening notes in his locker (typed, not handwritten). Suspicious cars outside his house. Phonecalls at home with fake voice device making threats, scaring his wife (often the calls would come while he was at work and she was home alone). His dog, dead after someone tossed poisoned food into the backyard. He dropped the complaints, and, not wanting to risk endangering his wife and kiddos further, in short order, resigned from the force, and hasn't worked for a police force since (even if he wanted to, I suspect that he'd get rejected if his former employer had anything to say about it - and they would).
On to the article (yes, yes, Sparko, it's a long read - don't comment if you don't want to read it):
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/st...bs/8514211002/
WARNING: This investigation includes graphic images of police brutality and offensive language.
To many in law enforcement, snitching against another cop is a betrayal that can’t go unpunished.
Those who enforce this code – the blue wall of silence – have stuffed dead rats and feces into fellow officers’ lockers. They’ve issued death threats, ignored requests for backup, threatened family members and planted drugs on the officers who reported wrong.
Department leaders often condone these reprisals or pile on by launching internal investigations to discredit those who expose misconduct. Whistleblowers have been fired, jailed and, in at least one case, forcibly admitted to a psychiatric ward.
The pattern of behavior is both destructive and widespread throughout policing, a USA TODAY investigation found. Departments across the country have adopted an unofficial system of retaliation that allows misconduct to persist and helps police leaders avoid accountability. And while communities of color and other marginalized groups bear the brunt of police brutality, the profession is blind to race, gender and seniority when it comes to punishing officers who try to expose these practices.
USA TODAY set out to establish, for the first time, the extent of law enforcement’s blue wall of silence and its impact on the individual officers who have defied it. In building a catalogue of more than 300 examples from the past decade, reporters found there is no wrongdoing so egregious or clear cut that a whistleblower can feel safe in bringing it to light.
In South Carolina, an officer leaked the fact that fellow deputies beat a prisoner who later died in custody. In Florida, a detective who specialized in child sex crimes reported a captain who had impregnated a 16-year-old girl and then paid for her to have an abortion. In Oregon, a sergeant complained that a co-worker bragged about killing an unarmed teenager.
After speaking out, all of them were forced out of their departments and branded traitors by fellow officers.
“Whistleblowing is a life sentence,” said Shannon Spalding, a former undercover narcotics officer in Chicago who faced death threats and resigned after she exposed a corruption scheme that has led to dozens of overturned convictions. “I’m an officer without a department. I lost my house. I lost my marriage. It affects you in ways you would never imagine.”
Meanwhile, USA TODAY found that many of the cops that whistleblowers accused of misconduct kept their jobs or faced only minor punishments. And officers who lied or stayed silent in support of an accused colleague later secured promotions, overtime and admiration from their peers.
USA TODAY spent a year examining thousands of documents from police and sheriff’s departments, prosecutors, oversight groups and regulators around the country, including previously confidential federal labor records. In addition, reporters reviewed a decade of media reports and court cases. Then they traveled to Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Oregon, Louisiana, New York and Florida to interview officers and victims of police misconduct, among others.
The result is the most comprehensive public accounting of police retaliation ever compiled, including dozens of examples never before reported.
Among the findings:
Experts said the patterns USA TODAY identified are critical to understanding many other issues plaguing law enforcement.
“It goes to the core of what's wrong with American policing,” said Jeffrey Schwartz, a consultant who has studied hundreds of police departments and prisons and helped write numerous reforms, including federal consent decrees, during his 40-year career.
Justin Hansford, a law professor at Howard University and executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, said coverups have historically been framed as part of “police culture,” instead of a phenomenon with actual mechanisms that can be addressed and changed.
“Cultural norms can’t be litigated,” Hansford said, “but retaliatory policies can.”
Not every officer who comes forward is punished. Some of the cases identified by USA TODAY show departments rewarding whistleblowers and holding accountable those they accused. In Del City, Oklahoma, a detective who testified against a fellow officer for shooting an unarmed man rose up the ranks to major. In Perth Amboy, New Jersey, an officer who testified against the chief ended up replacing him. There are undoubtedly other departments with similar stories that did not make it into the public record.
But for every example of retaliation USA TODAY found, countless others likely remain concealed. That’s because the system works. Officers have seen or heard of other careers destroyed over speaking up.
So when they witness misconduct or find out about a coverup, many officers keep their mouths shut.
The world saw it happen in the spring of 2020, when three Minneapolis officers stood by as one of their own, Derek Chauvin, murdered George Floyd. The officers’ statements immediately afterward justified Chauvin’s actions. Video that contradicted their accounts sparked international outcry, mass protests and criminal charges against Chauvin and the other officers.
Most cases don’t get so much attention. In Cook County, Illinois, four corrections officers lied on their incident reports after they saw a fifth beat a handcuffed man in 2012. The witnesses denied that their fellow officer used excessive force, but a security video showed them watching as he kneed the man in the face. After the video surfaced, the officer who assaulted the man was fired and the four witnesses were suspended for giving false statements.
In a statement to USA TODAY, a Cook County Sheriff's spokesperson said the case demonstrates how video surveillance and improved training have helped the department expose coverups and hold officers accountable.
USA TODAY sent more than 400 requests for records of misconduct and retaliation to federal, state and local agencies. Dozens fought or refused to release documents, video and other evidence, even in closed investigations. Some said they had no records related to specific incidents. Others charged thousands of dollars for the files.
In addition, reporters contacted more than 20 police and sheriff’s departments for comment, including each one named in this article. Many did not respond or declined to answer questions.
The others broadly acknowledged that there is a tendency in law enforcement for officers to remain loyal to one another, sometimes to a harmful extent. But they said it wasn’t a problem in their own departments and that an open-door policy welcomes anyone with a complaint.
In interviews and court filings, police leaders denied retaliating against anyone. They said these officers were not whistleblowers but problematic employees who committed legitimate policy violations that warranted discipline.
For those who choose to expose wrongdoing among their peers, the personal consequences can be devastating.
Lots more at the link, and for those with paywall issues, here you go:
https://archive.ph/c3pld
The sad reality is, the actual good cops. The ones that whistleblow, report corruption and abuses. Those cops tend to be punished by the rest of the supposed 'good cops' (and their even worse colleagues) for rocking the boat. From death threats to abuses, to destruction of their careers by their fellow cops, sometimes even suspicious deaths or even 'backup' taking unusually long to show up after it is requested for a dangerous situation, the actual good cops don't tend to last long.
My brother in law was a good cop. I say was, because when he rocked the boat at his small department down in Florida and started bringing some light to another officer's abusive behaviors on up the chain of command... he started to get threats. Threatening notes in his locker (typed, not handwritten). Suspicious cars outside his house. Phonecalls at home with fake voice device making threats, scaring his wife (often the calls would come while he was at work and she was home alone). His dog, dead after someone tossed poisoned food into the backyard. He dropped the complaints, and, not wanting to risk endangering his wife and kiddos further, in short order, resigned from the force, and hasn't worked for a police force since (even if he wanted to, I suspect that he'd get rejected if his former employer had anything to say about it - and they would).
On to the article (yes, yes, Sparko, it's a long read - don't comment if you don't want to read it):
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/st...bs/8514211002/
WARNING: This investigation includes graphic images of police brutality and offensive language.
To many in law enforcement, snitching against another cop is a betrayal that can’t go unpunished.
Those who enforce this code – the blue wall of silence – have stuffed dead rats and feces into fellow officers’ lockers. They’ve issued death threats, ignored requests for backup, threatened family members and planted drugs on the officers who reported wrong.
Department leaders often condone these reprisals or pile on by launching internal investigations to discredit those who expose misconduct. Whistleblowers have been fired, jailed and, in at least one case, forcibly admitted to a psychiatric ward.
The pattern of behavior is both destructive and widespread throughout policing, a USA TODAY investigation found. Departments across the country have adopted an unofficial system of retaliation that allows misconduct to persist and helps police leaders avoid accountability. And while communities of color and other marginalized groups bear the brunt of police brutality, the profession is blind to race, gender and seniority when it comes to punishing officers who try to expose these practices.
USA TODAY set out to establish, for the first time, the extent of law enforcement’s blue wall of silence and its impact on the individual officers who have defied it. In building a catalogue of more than 300 examples from the past decade, reporters found there is no wrongdoing so egregious or clear cut that a whistleblower can feel safe in bringing it to light.
In South Carolina, an officer leaked the fact that fellow deputies beat a prisoner who later died in custody. In Florida, a detective who specialized in child sex crimes reported a captain who had impregnated a 16-year-old girl and then paid for her to have an abortion. In Oregon, a sergeant complained that a co-worker bragged about killing an unarmed teenager.
After speaking out, all of them were forced out of their departments and branded traitors by fellow officers.
“Whistleblowing is a life sentence,” said Shannon Spalding, a former undercover narcotics officer in Chicago who faced death threats and resigned after she exposed a corruption scheme that has led to dozens of overturned convictions. “I’m an officer without a department. I lost my house. I lost my marriage. It affects you in ways you would never imagine.”
Meanwhile, USA TODAY found that many of the cops that whistleblowers accused of misconduct kept their jobs or faced only minor punishments. And officers who lied or stayed silent in support of an accused colleague later secured promotions, overtime and admiration from their peers.
USA TODAY spent a year examining thousands of documents from police and sheriff’s departments, prosecutors, oversight groups and regulators around the country, including previously confidential federal labor records. In addition, reporters reviewed a decade of media reports and court cases. Then they traveled to Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Oregon, Louisiana, New York and Florida to interview officers and victims of police misconduct, among others.
The result is the most comprehensive public accounting of police retaliation ever compiled, including dozens of examples never before reported.
Among the findings:
- Cases of retaliation appeared in every type of department: majority Black forces and majority white forces, union and at-will agencies, rural two-man outposts and massive urban police departments, and, perhaps most notably, places that have adopted strict accountability measures. Reforms like body cameras and civilian oversight boards prove virtually worthless when law enforcement leaders and other local officials silence whistleblowers.
- Officers who report wrongdoing are often forced to navigate procedures that derail their efforts. Sometimes they must report up the chain of command to the very people they want investigated. Federal, state, and local agencies can take years to intervene or decline to investigate altogether. When agencies do take action, they often direct complaints back to the police department, compromising officers who expected anonymity.
- Police leaders weaponize internal affairs, pursuing minor rule infractions such as breaking the chain of command, in order to discredit whistleblowers and get rid of them. In Amite, Louisiana, a detective who admitted to helping the FBI investigate fellow cops was fired for accidentally mislabeling two evidence bags, including one that simply had an extra zero. In Hillview, Kentucky, an officer who testified against his chief was targeted for firing after he tried to add $2.50 to the accounts of two jail inmates who cooperated in an unrelated investigation.
- Police unions play a critical role in enforcing the blue wall of silence. They often back cops accused of misconduct during court and disciplinary hearings but not those who turn them in. In East Haven, Connecticut, a sergeant who tried to intimidate a fellow officer by holding a gun to his chest was hired by the union to help officers involved in on-duty shootings. Unions have also lobbied for rules that make things harder for officers who want to come forward and easier for departments to hide misconduct, according to USA TODAY’s review of more than 80 union contracts.
- Police chiefs and sheriffs who retaliate against whistleblowers rarely face serious consequences. Top law enforcement officials kept their jobs or were allowed to retire or resign in nearly all instances documented by USA TODAY. In a rare exception, the director of a training academy in Albuquerque was fired after she was caught on tape threatening to expel students who had complained about her to human resources.
Experts said the patterns USA TODAY identified are critical to understanding many other issues plaguing law enforcement.
“It goes to the core of what's wrong with American policing,” said Jeffrey Schwartz, a consultant who has studied hundreds of police departments and prisons and helped write numerous reforms, including federal consent decrees, during his 40-year career.
Justin Hansford, a law professor at Howard University and executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, said coverups have historically been framed as part of “police culture,” instead of a phenomenon with actual mechanisms that can be addressed and changed.
“Cultural norms can’t be litigated,” Hansford said, “but retaliatory policies can.”
Cultural norms can’t be litigated, but retaliatory policies can.
Not every officer who comes forward is punished. Some of the cases identified by USA TODAY show departments rewarding whistleblowers and holding accountable those they accused. In Del City, Oklahoma, a detective who testified against a fellow officer for shooting an unarmed man rose up the ranks to major. In Perth Amboy, New Jersey, an officer who testified against the chief ended up replacing him. There are undoubtedly other departments with similar stories that did not make it into the public record.
But for every example of retaliation USA TODAY found, countless others likely remain concealed. That’s because the system works. Officers have seen or heard of other careers destroyed over speaking up.
So when they witness misconduct or find out about a coverup, many officers keep their mouths shut.
The world saw it happen in the spring of 2020, when three Minneapolis officers stood by as one of their own, Derek Chauvin, murdered George Floyd. The officers’ statements immediately afterward justified Chauvin’s actions. Video that contradicted their accounts sparked international outcry, mass protests and criminal charges against Chauvin and the other officers.
Most cases don’t get so much attention. In Cook County, Illinois, four corrections officers lied on their incident reports after they saw a fifth beat a handcuffed man in 2012. The witnesses denied that their fellow officer used excessive force, but a security video showed them watching as he kneed the man in the face. After the video surfaced, the officer who assaulted the man was fired and the four witnesses were suspended for giving false statements.
In a statement to USA TODAY, a Cook County Sheriff's spokesperson said the case demonstrates how video surveillance and improved training have helped the department expose coverups and hold officers accountable.
USA TODAY sent more than 400 requests for records of misconduct and retaliation to federal, state and local agencies. Dozens fought or refused to release documents, video and other evidence, even in closed investigations. Some said they had no records related to specific incidents. Others charged thousands of dollars for the files.
In addition, reporters contacted more than 20 police and sheriff’s departments for comment, including each one named in this article. Many did not respond or declined to answer questions.
The others broadly acknowledged that there is a tendency in law enforcement for officers to remain loyal to one another, sometimes to a harmful extent. But they said it wasn’t a problem in their own departments and that an open-door policy welcomes anyone with a complaint.
In interviews and court filings, police leaders denied retaliating against anyone. They said these officers were not whistleblowers but problematic employees who committed legitimate policy violations that warranted discipline.
For those who choose to expose wrongdoing among their peers, the personal consequences can be devastating.
https://archive.ph/c3pld
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