WEBVTT NOTE 13. The Dishonest Cop 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.560 Chapter 13 The Dishonest Cop 2 00:00:05.560 --> 00:00:12.400 The hero of Serpico, a best-selling book and movie, is a renegade, bearded, hippie cop 3 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:19.960 who refuses to obey the unspoken code of policemen, don't turn against your fellow officers. 4 00:00:19.960 --> 00:00:25.800 As Serpico states, the only oath I ever took was to enforce the law, and it didn't say 5 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:29.900 against everybody except other cops. 6 00:00:29.900 --> 00:00:35.440 The story traces Serpico's development, beginning with his boyhood ambition to be a good police 7 00:00:35.440 --> 00:00:36.900 officer. 8 00:00:36.900 --> 00:00:43.520 It reveals his initial naivete about the corruption on the force, his solitary and unsuccessful 9 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:50.340 attempts to interest the police brass in the situation, the contempt and hatred he experienced 10 00:00:50.340 --> 00:00:55.200 at the hands of his fellow officers, and his final disillusionment. 11 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:01.640 Throughout, the assumption made about the good guys and the bad guys is evident. 12 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:07.840 The good guys are Frank Serpico and one or two policemen who gave him limited aid in 13 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:12.520 his quest for justice and punishment of the grafters. 14 00:01:12.520 --> 00:01:18.840 The bad guys were those cops on the take and those who protect them from prosecution. 15 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:24.520 It is precisely this view which should be questioned. 16 00:01:24.520 --> 00:01:27.020 Serpico and Gambling 17 00:01:27.020 --> 00:01:33.200 An envelope containing $300 plays an important part in the story of Serpico. 18 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:39.760 It was delivered to him by a messenger from someone known only as Jewish Max, a powerful 19 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:40.760 gambler. 20 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:46.320 After many attempts, Serpico was unable to interest any of his superior officers in the 21 00:01:46.320 --> 00:01:48.780 attempted bribe. 22 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:55.420 Why was Jewish Max attempting to bestow money and gifts on an unwilling Serpico? 23 00:01:55.420 --> 00:02:01.620 Jewish Max, the purveyor of voluntary gambling services to consenting adults, was one of 24 00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:08.180 the intended victims of Serpico and other honest cops on the gambling squad. 25 00:02:08.180 --> 00:02:15.600 Their intention was to harass, chase, capture and kidnap, jail, all those involved. 26 00:02:15.600 --> 00:02:21.380 The public is told that aggressive violent behavior on the part of the officers is necessary 27 00:02:21.380 --> 00:02:27.460 because gambling is against the law, and it is their duty to uphold the law. 28 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:34.700 But the most vicious Nazi thug in a concentration camp could claim this argument as a defense. 29 00:02:34.700 --> 00:02:40.340 In another incident, a ghetto mother complained to Serpico that her son was being inducted 30 00:02:40.340 --> 00:02:43.460 into an illegal gambling operation. 31 00:02:43.460 --> 00:02:47.520 Serpico is asked to smash the operation. 32 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:52.280 Now there can be little opposition to the attempt to protect a child from an activity 33 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:54.540 that could be harmful to him. 34 00:02:54.540 --> 00:03:00.760 However, the disruption of an activity which is legitimate for adults, on the grounds that 35 00:03:00.760 --> 00:03:05.620 a child has become involved, is clearly objectionable. 36 00:03:05.620 --> 00:03:11.800 The solution in a case such as this lies in preventing the child from participation, not 37 00:03:11.800 --> 00:03:18.800 in the Elimination of the Activity, Sex, Drinking or Driving should hardly be prohibited on 38 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:25.040 the grounds that these activities are harmful or dangerous for children. 39 00:03:25.040 --> 00:03:30.120 Serpico the Narc Serpico is finally wounded while attempting 40 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:36.520 to break into an apartment of a dope dealer, although his sworn duty is to protect the 41 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:38.720 rights of citizens. 42 00:03:38.720 --> 00:03:44.600 The explanation, of course, is that selling narcotics is prohibited by law, and although 43 00:03:44.600 --> 00:03:52.100 he has sworn to protect the rights of individuals, Serpico has also sworn to uphold the law. 44 00:03:52.100 --> 00:03:58.080 In this instance, as elsewhere, when the two are contradictory, he chooses the latter. 45 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:04.400 His participation on the narcotics squad itself demonstrates Serpico's overriding loyalty 46 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.560 to the law. 47 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:12.720 But prohibiting the sale of narcotics invariably increases the purchase price, thereby making 48 00:04:12.720 --> 00:04:16.160 it difficult for addicts to obtain the drugs. 49 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:21.680 Consequently, they must commit greater and greater crimes in order to obtain the necessary 50 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:23.080 money. 51 00:04:23.080 --> 00:04:28.800 By prohibiting the sale of narcotics, the citizenry thus becomes endangered. 52 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:35.100 To enforce that prohibition, as Serpico does, is to regard the protection of the law over 53 00:04:35.100 --> 00:04:44.160 that of the citizens, Serpico and Couping. Given that much of what the policeman is required 54 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:50.180 to do is injurious to the general public, it follows that the less active the policeman 55 00:04:50.180 --> 00:04:56.920 is, the less injurious he will be to the public at large. The majority of policemen, perhaps 56 00:04:56.920 --> 00:05:04.580 sensing this, act so as to save the public from harm, that is, they shun their duties. 57 00:05:04.580 --> 00:05:09.600 Instead of being up and about, interfering with the rights of the people, many policemen 58 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:12.060 choose the honorable way out. 59 00:05:12.060 --> 00:05:13.380 They coup. 60 00:05:13.380 --> 00:05:20.060 Couping, sleeping in some out-of-the-way place while on duty, was a situation which enraged 61 00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:21.700 Serpico. 62 00:05:21.700 --> 00:05:27.420 In the finest tradition of the busybody who insists upon running other people's lives, 63 00:05:27.420 --> 00:05:33.960 Serpico insisted upon being out on the streets at all hours, stopping a prostitute here, 64 00:05:33.960 --> 00:05:51.960 It is, of course, impossible to deny that Serpico was also a force for good. He did, after all, hunt down rapists, muggers, robbers, thieves, murderers, and destroyers of the peace. 65 00:05:51.960 --> 00:05:57.700 Moreover, he carried out his duties in an enormously imaginative way. 66 00:05:57.700 --> 00:06:04.920 Disguised as a Hasidic Jew, a hippie, a slaughterhouse worker, a businessman, a drug addict, he prowled 67 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:10.560 the city streets and unearthed its secrets as none of his fellow police officers, dressed 68 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:16.600 in suits, ties, trench coats, black shoes and white socks, could. 69 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:21.940 But the extent to which Serpico was able to achieve these accomplishments was the extent 70 00:06:21.940 --> 00:06:27.540 to which he was willing to step outside the realm of law and order. 71 00:06:27.540 --> 00:06:30.340 Take the case of a young rapist. 72 00:06:30.340 --> 00:06:36.000 Serpico stopped a rape in progress in spite of the opposition of his police partner who 73 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:41.820 objected to investigating the suspicious noises on the grounds that they were taking place 74 00:06:41.820 --> 00:06:46.900 out of the area which he and Serpico were assigned to patrol. 75 00:06:46.900 --> 00:06:53.100 Oblivious to such specious reasoning, Serpico insisted upon an investigation. 76 00:06:53.100 --> 00:06:57.120 He was able to capture only one of the three rapists. 77 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:02.260 When he brought him to the station house, Serpico was dismayed at the brutal and ineffective 78 00:07:02.260 --> 00:07:05.740 treatment to which the rapist was subjected. 79 00:07:05.740 --> 00:07:10.340 When the prisoner was about to be transferred to another location, Serpico brought him a 80 00:07:10.340 --> 00:07:15.060 cup of coffee and talked kindly to him for several minutes. 81 00:07:15.060 --> 00:07:22.740 By using gentle persuasion, he was able to unearth the names of the rapists' two accomplices. 82 00:07:22.740 --> 00:07:29.060 Serpico then encountered the full pattern of bureaucratic red tape of the police department. 83 00:07:29.060 --> 00:07:34.660 He located the accomplices, but, upon phoning his precinct commander to report on their 84 00:07:34.660 --> 00:07:40.500 whereabouts, was told that the detective assigned to the case was on vacation. 85 00:07:40.500 --> 00:07:46.740 The commanding officer insisted that Serpico not arrest the accomplices, even though he 86 00:07:46.740 --> 00:07:50.140 had them under surveillance from the phone booth. 87 00:07:50.140 --> 00:07:56.420 Serpico again disobeyed the lawful order from his commanding officer and arrested the 88 00:07:56.420 --> 00:07:57.900 two men. 89 00:07:57.900 --> 00:08:02.260 When he brought them to the station house, he was told by the angry commander that he 90 00:08:02.260 --> 00:08:07.380 would not be given credit for the arrests, an appropriate ending to the story. 91 00:08:07.380 --> 00:08:14.380 It is instances such as this one which have made Serpico an all-time hero and which account 92 00:08:14.380 --> 00:08:18.500 for the massive popularity of the book and movie. 93 00:08:18.500 --> 00:08:24.620 But this illustration also exposes the basic contradiction in Serpico's character. 94 00:08:24.620 --> 00:08:31.100 His attacks on prostitutes, gamblers and drug sellers, all of whom were engaged in voluntary 95 00:08:31.100 --> 00:08:38.380 Every act between mutually consenting adults reveal his absolute devotion to the law. 96 00:08:38.380 --> 00:08:44.100 His boyhood dream of being a policeman, it will be remembered, was in terms of upholding 97 00:08:44.100 --> 00:08:45.340 the law. 98 00:08:45.340 --> 00:08:51.860 However, in the case of the rapist, Serpico does the good deed only because he is willing 99 00:08:51.860 --> 00:08:54.160 to violate the law. 100 00:08:54.160 --> 00:09:00.220 And in every case where his behavior can be considered heroic, the same principle of action 101 00:09:00.220 --> 00:09:02.560 is present. 102 00:09:02.560 --> 00:09:08.460 In considering Serpico's battle against the other normal policemen, the ones he considers 103 00:09:08.460 --> 00:09:12.240 corrupt, there are two types of cops. 104 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:18.140 There are those who refuse to harass consenting adults engaging in voluntary though illegal 105 00:09:18.140 --> 00:09:25.080 activities, and who accept money from the individuals engaged in such activities. 106 00:09:25.080 --> 00:09:30.820 And there are those who demand money from these individuals for allowing them to engage 107 00:09:30.820 --> 00:09:33.620 in these activities. 108 00:09:33.620 --> 00:09:39.420 In the first example, assuming the activities in question are legitimate, even though prohibited 109 00:09:39.420 --> 00:09:45.760 by law, it would seem perfectly proper to accept money for allowing them. 110 00:09:45.760 --> 00:09:51.600 The acceptance of money cannot be logically distinguished from the acceptance of a gift, 111 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:56.040 and the mere acceptance of a gift is not illegitimate. 112 00:09:56.040 --> 00:10:01.820 There are, however, some who take a contrary position by stating that exceptions cannot 113 00:10:01.820 --> 00:10:08.520 be made even in the case of ill-conceived laws, that mere individuals should not be 114 00:10:08.520 --> 00:10:14.300 free to pick and choose but must simply obey the law. 115 00:10:14.300 --> 00:10:20.160 Allowing the law to be broken is necessarily evil, both in itself and because, if taken 116 00:10:20.160 --> 00:10:23.880 And as a precedent, it leads to chaos. 117 00:10:23.880 --> 00:10:29.760 But it is difficult to countenance the notion that breaking the law is necessarily evil. 118 00:10:29.760 --> 00:10:35.680 Indeed, if the Nuremberg trials have taught us anything, it is the diametric opposite 119 00:10:35.680 --> 00:10:37.260 of this view. 120 00:10:37.260 --> 00:10:43.860 The lesson of the trials is that some laws are in and of themselves evil, and to obey 121 00:10:43.860 --> 00:10:46.200 them is wrong. 122 00:10:46.200 --> 00:10:51.680 It is equally difficult to understand the notion that selective law breaking establishes a 123 00:10:51.680 --> 00:10:55.740 precedent which ultimately leads to chaos. 124 00:10:55.740 --> 00:11:02.880 The only precedent such an action establishes is that illegitimate laws may be disobeyed. 125 00:11:02.880 --> 00:11:06.640 This does not imply chaos and arbitrary murder. 126 00:11:06.640 --> 00:11:08.920 It implies morality. 127 00:11:08.920 --> 00:11:14.560 Had such a precedent been firmly established at the time the Nazis came to power, concentration 128 00:11:14.560 --> 00:11:42.320 In conclusion, since lawbreaking can, on occasion, be legitimate, policemen who allow it are, 129 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:58.640 Now consider the second kind of police officer condemned by Serpico, those who did not simply 130 00:11:58.640 --> 00:12:07.040 allow illegal activities or accept money when offered, but demanded payment from citizens. 131 00:12:07.040 --> 00:12:14.500 The dictionary calls this extortion, to draw from by force or compulsion, to wrest or ring 132 00:12:14.500 --> 00:12:22.560 from by physical force, violence, threats, misuse of authority, or by any illegal means, 133 00:12:22.560 --> 00:12:29.840 to exact money from as conquerors extort contributions from the vanquished. 134 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:34.920 Extortion is usually considered contemptible, and this evaluation is acceptable. 135 00:12:34.920 --> 00:12:42.280 However, does this imply approval of Serpico's attacks on the policemen involved in extortion? 136 00:12:42.280 --> 00:12:48.320 No, for Serpico's role was even worse than extortion. 137 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:54.720 Consider four different ways a policeman may react to behavior which is illegal but perfectly 138 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:55.980 moral. 139 00:12:55.980 --> 00:12:57.380 He may 1. 140 00:12:57.380 --> 00:12:58.380 Ignore it. 141 00:12:58.380 --> 00:12:59.380 2. 142 00:12:59.380 --> 00:13:01.520 Accept money for ignoring it. 143 00:13:01.520 --> 00:13:02.520 3. 144 00:13:02.520 --> 00:13:04.840 Demand money for ignoring it. 145 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:12.780 distortion, or, four, stop it. Of the four possible reactions, the fourth is the least 146 00:13:12.780 --> 00:13:20.620 desirable, for it alone absolutely prohibits a moral activity just because it happens to 147 00:13:20.620 --> 00:13:27.760 be illegal. Had Serpico been a guard in a Nazi concentration camp, he would have felt 148 00:13:27.760 --> 00:13:34.240 it his duty to follow his orders to torture prisoners, as would all others who consider 149 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:37.880 Law and Order the Primary Value. 150 00:13:37.880 --> 00:13:44.000 If he had consistently maintained his position, he would also have felt constrained to root 151 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:51.160 out corruption in the camp by turning in those among his fellow officers who 1. 152 00:13:51.160 --> 00:13:54.080 Refused to follow orders, 2. 153 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:59.520 Refused to follow orders and accepted payment from the prisoners, or 3. 154 00:13:59.520 --> 00:14:07.080 Is to Follow Orders and Demanded Payment, Extortion True, it is immoral to extort money 155 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:13.320 from prisoners for not torturing them, but surely it is worse to not take their money 156 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:17.080 and instead to obey orders and torture them.