Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in his blog at the Atlantic about some cases of wrongdoing by the NYPD, including the recent conviction of a police officer for planting drugs on a woman and her boyfriend. The police chief encourages us to see the transgressors as a small minority, but they're still members of a force that is empowered with the right to legally kill, and they suffer few obvious consequences.
Cop found guilty of planting drugs on innocent people:
"Before announcing the verdict, Justice Reichbach scolded the department for what he described as a widespread culture of corruption endemic in its drug units.
" 'I thought I was not naïve,' he said. 'But even this court was shocked, not only by the seeming pervasive scope of misconduct but even more distressingly by the seeming casualness by which such conduct is employed … '
"Though there had been conflicting testimony during the trial about the existence of quotas in the department's drug units, Justice Reichbach said, a system of flawed procedures in part led to the charges against Detective Arbeeny."
Read Ta-Nehisi Coates' entire blog entry at the Atlantic.