ABSTRACT
Is it possible to think of a whole police force, or a unit within it, as an organized criminal gang? This, in fact, is how police have at times acted-running extortion rackets, trafficking in narcotics, systematically stealing from the public, beating up the opposition, and even engaging in torture and murder. The account of police protection of prostitution outlined in the preface to this book is a common story. However, it is a relatively benign version of the much more complex, sometimes sinister story of police corruption. One of the characteristics of this recurring social malaise is that it takes highly diverse forms, ranging from free coffee and doughnuts to protection of vice to fabrication of evidence, and on to drug trafficking and murder. Police misconduct has a deeply corrosive effect on society, undermining the system of democratic authority and threatening the security of ordinary citizens. It fosters organized crime, government waste, public disaffection, resistance to authority, and noncooperation with police.
