Police officer Frank Serpico became a New York City police officer in 1959 and served for 12 years. He is known for exposing corruption in the New York City police department in the 60’s and 70’s. He was the first officer to testify against another officer.
Michael Dowd was a police officer for the 75th precinct in east Brooklyn for ten years and five months. Facing twenty-five to life, Dowd admitted During the Mollen commission to committing “hundreds” of crimes and acts of corruption while being a New York City police officer. He is considered one of the dirtiest cops in New York history.
Dowd only became a police officer by chance. He was a good student who was advised to consider becoming 'a doctor, a lawyer or an accountant'. But he took the police test as well as the firefighter test and said, 'the police test came back first. Simple as that.' Dowd graduated from the Police Academy in 1982 and was immediately…show more content… Serpico was shocked by how far the corruption actually went. Unlike Dowd, Serpico actually wanted to be a cop. He wanted to help and to serve his community. The second he refused to take the money from his fellow officer, he was tagged as what Dowd would refer to as a “bad cop”.
Dowd took advantage of his status right away. He used his uniform as a means to get what he wanted, which is exactly the type of cop Serpico was trying to avoid. While Serpico spent most of his days dodging sideways glares from his fellow officers, Dowd was knocking back drinks with the local drug dealer. Serpico and Dowd are certainly on complete opposite sides of the “good cop/bad cop” spectrum.
Serpico finally was able to testify to the Knapp Commission in 1972, becoming the first policeman to voluntarily testify against a fellow officer. In his testimony, he encouraged law enforcement to develop a culture where the bad cop fears the good cop, and not the other way
