Michael Armstrong
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231153546
- eISBN:
- 9780231526982
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231153546.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
For two years the author was chief counsel to the Knapp Commission, investigating cops. Based on the author's recollections of this watershed moment in law enforcement accountability—prompted by the ...
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For two years the author was chief counsel to the Knapp Commission, investigating cops. Based on the author's recollections of this watershed moment in law enforcement accountability—prompted by the report on whistleblower cop Frank Serpico—this book recreates the struggles and significance of the Commission and explores the factors that led to its success and the restoration of the NYPD's public image. Serpico's charges against the NYPD encouraged Mayor John Lindsay to appoint Whitman Knapp to chair a Citizen's Commission on police graft. Chief Counsel Armstrong cobbled together an investigative group of a half-dozen lawyers and a dozen agents. When funding was about to run out, the “blue wall of silence” collapsed. A “Madame,” a corrupt lawyer, and an informant led to a “super thief” cop, who was trapped and “turned” by the Commission. This led to hearings, which publicly refuted the notion that departmental corruption was limited to only a “few rotten apples.” The book illuminates police investigative strategy; governmental and departmental political maneuvering; ethical and philosophical issues in law enforcement; the efficacy (or lack thereof) of the police's anticorruption efforts; the effectiveness of the training of police officers; the psychological and emotional pressures that lead to corruption; and the effects of police criminality on individuals and society. It concludes with the effects, in today's world, of Knapp and succeeding investigations into police corruption and the value of permanent outside monitoring bodies, such as the special prosecutor's office, formed in response to the Commission's recommendation, as well as the current monitoring commission, of which Armstrong is chairman.Less
For two years the author was chief counsel to the Knapp Commission, investigating cops. Based on the author's recollections of this watershed moment in law enforcement accountability—prompted by the report on whistleblower cop Frank Serpico—this book recreates the struggles and significance of the Commission and explores the factors that led to its success and the restoration of the NYPD's public image. Serpico's charges against the NYPD encouraged Mayor John Lindsay to appoint Whitman Knapp to chair a Citizen's Commission on police graft. Chief Counsel Armstrong cobbled together an investigative group of a half-dozen lawyers and a dozen agents. When funding was about to run out, the “blue wall of silence” collapsed. A “Madame,” a corrupt lawyer, and an informant led to a “super thief” cop, who was trapped and “turned” by the Commission. This led to hearings, which publicly refuted the notion that departmental corruption was limited to only a “few rotten apples.” The book illuminates police investigative strategy; governmental and departmental political maneuvering; ethical and philosophical issues in law enforcement; the efficacy (or lack thereof) of the police's anticorruption efforts; the effectiveness of the training of police officers; the psychological and emotional pressures that lead to corruption; and the effects of police criminality on individuals and society. It concludes with the effects, in today's world, of Knapp and succeeding investigations into police corruption and the value of permanent outside monitoring bodies, such as the special prosecutor's office, formed in response to the Commission's recommendation, as well as the current monitoring commission, of which Armstrong is chairman.
