75th Precinct NYPD Gangsta Cops
The documentary portrays the involvement of police officers in illegal criminal activities such as drug trafficking in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1980s. The video indicates that corruption within law enforcement agencies is one of the issues that jeopardize the safety and security of the people (75th precinct nypd gangsta cops, 2018). For instance, corruption led police officers to collaborate with dangerous criminals such as Adam Diaz, who was in charge of The Diaz Organization. The gang leader was responsible for countless murders and engaging in drug trafficking in New York City.
Another issue in the documentary pertains to the level of income the police receive as a motivation for engaging in corruption-related dealings. In his confession, Dowd indicated that he felt underappreciated for his work and was paid considerably less, which was why he took money from the drug dealers (75th precinct nypd gangsta cops, 2018). Offering law enforcement officers low remunerations is more likely to make them fall into the temptations present in their line of work.
The people engaging in crimes and the innocent tend to suffer in situations whereby police officers are involved in corruption. For instance, Dowd was willing to kidnap a woman who had unpaid drug debt as required by a Colombian gang to be paid several hundreds of thousands of dollars (75th precinct nypd gangsta cops, 2018). The police officers had also started trafficking cocaine while working with Diaz. He also extorted money from drug traffickers, sometimes at gunpoint. This shows that corruption endangers the lives of innocent people and the individuals engaging in crime.
Shattered Shield Case
The documentary highlights increased corruption among law enforcement officers in New Orleans and how it affected the wellbeing of the citizens. One of the video’s main points is that corruption within law enforcement agencies has negative implications for the public (Shattered shield | full episode | the fbi files, 2020). For instance, the police are portrayed as causing bodily harm to people by beating them up. Through corruption, the officers also fail to arrest and take drug traffickers to court as required by the law, increasing drug use in society. Thus, police officers are custodians of law in society, and if their morality is compromised, it negatively impacts society.
Another important point is wiretaps’ vital role in collecting evidence, even though they are complicated to implement. The documentary depicts the use of wiretaps to capture the officers engaging in criminal activities, providing concrete evidence (Shattered shield | full episode | the fbi files, 2020). However, special agent Karen Jenkins indicates that securing them is complicated since it requires approval by the courts. Acquiring the approval is time-consuming and follows a lengthy process which affects the use of wiretaps to garner the relevant evidence.
Another important point highlighted in the documentary is that it is relatively hard to implicate law enforcement officers in their illegal dealing. The officers usually have adequate knowledge about the practices and processes involved in criminal investigations (Shattered shield | full episode | the fbi files, 2020). As a result, they are cautious with the way they conduct themselves. For instance, in the documentary, the officers become suspicious when the FBI informer uses the word dope. The way they engage with the drug lord also shows how careful they are, making it relatively hard to be arrested.
Conclusion
Therefore, the two documentaries show the involvement of law enforcement officers in corruption, especially when it comes to drug trafficking. The act tends to jeopardize the well-being of people, including those engaging in the drug trafficking business. As a result of the officers’ knowledge regarding the investigation process, they are likely to be effective when evading being caught. Low salary is one of the reasons cited for the increased involvement of police officers in corruption.
References
75th precinct nypd gangsta cops. (2018). Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adZaHShRa3A
Shattered shield | full episode | the fbi files. (2020). Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR4jk1A_HBM
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