Understanding Systemic Police Corruption

By Samuel Clark

Retired Police Lieutenant Samuel Clark has over twenty-five years of law enforcement experience. He has investigated incidents ranging from harassment to homicide. As a police supervisor, Clark worked in the patrol division, investigative division, and administrative division of the police department. He’s an expert in police procedures and police internal investigations and discipline. Clark has consulted not only citizen complainants of police misconduct but also police complainants of police misconduct in New Jersey across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. During his service, Lieutenant Clark was also a victim of police brutality. He has written numerous official complaints about violating citizens’ constitutional rights by the Newark Police Department in Newark, New Jersey, the only supervisor in the entire department to do so. In 2014, a United States Department of Justice Investigation into the Newark Police Department proved that what Clark complained about was true. He was also the only supervisor in the entire police department to complain about the unlawful termination of a police officer. Fourteen years after making official written complaints about that unlawful termination, a verdict from a federal jury proved Lieutenant Clark was telling the truth. He has also complained about arrest quotas, racial differential treatment, corruption by high-ranking police supervisors, and other severe acts of corruption. Much of the information in this book is drawn from Lieutenant Clark’s personal experience with policing and filing numerous complaints about corruption committed by high-ranking police supervisors. Hopefully, the facts revealed in this book will help promote the sweeping changes necessary for policing and the so-called criminal justice system.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Samuel Clark
• Release date: Dec 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9780976492993

Samuel Clark

Samuel Clark was born in Newark, New Jersey. He was raised in a high-rise public housing project, and joined the Newark Police Department on November 20, 1972. During his more than 25 years with the police department, Mr. Clark has worked as an officer in the patrol division, as a detective assigned to the juvenile bureau and has worked on all kinds of cases ranging from harassment to homicide. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 1994 and to lieutenant in 1997.In 1995 Mr. Clark, while on duty and serving in a supervisory capacity, suffered police brutality at the hands of a lower-ranking Newark police officer. When the officer received a mere reprimand, Clark was prompted to investigate the policies and practices of the Newark Police Department. Not only did he find that the police department had failed to terminate or properly sanction officers who had committed rape, assault, auto theft and other serious crimes; he also found that corruption and differential treatment pervaded the entire department.When Clark attempted to fulfill his ethical and sworn responsibility to report corruption and differential treatment to his supervisors, they and other high-ranking police officials responded by slapping him with harsh sanctions. Mr. Clark even appeared before the Newark Municipal Council and offered public testimony regarding the corruption he had uncovered. The council, however, did little to stop the corruption or to protect Clark from retaliation. On April 9, 1999, Mr. Clark was terminated from the police department.Mr. Clark is now retired from the police department and is currently living in Pennsylvania with his wife and daughter. He is writing additional books on police corruption, participates in seminars on police corruption, and serves as an expert in the areas of Police Procedures and Police Internal Investigations and Discipline. Mr. Clark appeared in the special features (The Thin Blue Line) of the DVD edition of “Righteous Kill,” starring Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino.

Book preview

UNDERSTANDING SYSTEMIC POLICE CORRUPTION

by

Samuel Clark

Retired Police Lieutenant

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Understanding Systemic Police Corruption

Copyright 2023 by Samuel Clark

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1: The Problem of Police Corruption

Chapter 2: What Is Systemic Police Corruption?

Chapter 3: Law Enforcement Agencies

Chapter 4: Police Training

Chapter 5: Laws and Criminals

Chapter 6: Transitioning from Training Academy to Neighborhood

Chapter 7: Supervisors

Chapter 8: How Dangerous Is Police Work?

Chapter 9: The Truth and Nothing but the Truth

Chapter 10: Fighting Crime

Chapter 11: Arrest Quotas

Chapter 12: Use of Force

Chapter 13: The Blue Wall of Silence

Chapter 14: Police Internal Discipline

Chapter 15: An Outside Organization’s Review of Internal Affairs

Chapter 16: Failure of West New York Internal Disciplinary System

Chapter 17: Failure of Philadelphia Internal Disciplinary System

Chapter 18: Failure of Los Angeles Police Internal Disciplinary System

Chapter 19: Failure of Chicago Police Internal Disciplinary System

Chapter 20: Failure of New Orleans Internal Disciplinary System

Chapter 21: Failure of New York City Internal Disciplinary System

Chapter 22: Failure of the Newark, N.J. Internal Disciplinary System

Chapter 23: Failure of Buffalo, New York Internal Disciplinary System

Chapter 24: Other Police Departments

Chapter 25: Additional Incidents

Chapter 26: Conclusion

More About the Author

Suggested Reading

Acknowledgments

Numerous friends and relatives gave me the motivation to write this book. They wanted to know why I was so silent when so many incidents of police corruption and brutality occurred openly. They question why, with all my knowledge and experience, I had not attempted to inform the public of the increasing dangers. I yielded to the concerns and wishes of those who love me and wrote this book.

I want to thank, honor, and acknowledge the late Retired Detective James Nance for being a father figure and introducing me to his son Darren. Thank you, Retired Detective Darren Nance, for opening the door that allowed me to see the horrors of police corruption. I also want to especially thank my lifelong friend, Mr. K.J. You have been a pillar by my side forever. Unfortunately, I can not acknowledge all the people who helped me survive. You know who you are and how much I love you all. In particular, I want to thank my wife, Renee. She has the unbelievable tolerance and patience necessary to deal with me and stay by my side.

Preface

There is a long list of victims of police brutality before the Rodney King brutality incident in 1991, and a long list of unarmed victims of police brutality after the George Floyd police murder in 2020. The filmed police murder of George Floyd caused worldwide protests against police brutality. Nevertheless, police officers continue to maim and kill unarmed citizens, many of whom are black. According to a 2021 online article by The Guardian titled Police killings of Black Americans amount to crimes against humanity. The article was based on a 188-page report from human rights experts from eleven countries.

The human rights experts’ report is titled, Report Of The International Commission Of Inquiry On Systemic Racist Police Violence Against People Of African Descent in The United States. In the executive summary, it reports, Under color of law, Black people are targeted, surveilled, brutalized, maimed and killed by law enforcement officers with impunity. How does this continue to happen even in the year 2023? What are the causes? What is the solution?

The author, Retired Police Lieutenant Samuel Clark, brings the reader the truth from the inside out. Clark also offers solutions. He has walked on patrol and serviced the public while working in a police car. He is an African-American male and a survivor of police brutality. Clark has first-hand knowledge of how a corrupt police department operates and has filed numerous official written complaints about police corruption. He provides the reader with a unique opportunity to gain insight and an understanding of systemic police corruption.

Chapter 1: The Problem of Police Corruption

If you were to ask someone whether police corruption exists, the response will probably be Yes. That affirmative answer should not be surprising. Incidents of police corruption have been highly publicized. But if you were to ask people about the extent to which police corruption is a problem, the answers would likely vary. One person would respond that its existence is small and that once police officials are made aware of the problem, it is immediately addressed; another person, on the other hand, would claim that the police corruption problem is widespread. Often, the response depends on a person’s age, race, and where the person lives—a small town, a rural area, a suburb, or a large city. Race, in particular, is a significant factor. Whites tend to have a more positive view of the police and are less likely to view police corruption as a huge problem. Blacks, however, would be more likely to have a negative view of police and believe that police corruption is a significant problem.

Why do blacks and whites diverge on this topic? A key reason is that blacks, historically, have more often borne the brunt of police corruption than whites, often in its most violent manifestations. The United States was born of extreme violence, namely, the genocide of the indigenous people and the brutality of chattel slavery. And the latter was not officially abolished until after a very bloody Civil War was fought, only to be replaced with a system of segregation and disenfranchisement known as Jim Crow, with the ever-present threat of lynching and mob violence. Some have argued that the United States has made tremendous progress due to the Civil Rights Movement. Others, such as legal scholar Michelle Alexander, have argued that such has been undermined by the emergence of a New Jim Crow—racial profiling and mass incarceration, the latter due in no small part to a racist War on Drugs. Still, others argue that racial profiling and mass incarceration are not a New Jim Crow but are a continuation of slavery, noting that the 13th Amendment permits enslavement as a punishment for a crime.

Unfortunately, police corruption is too often presented in the media as an occasional problem involving a few dishonest police officers, a few rotten apples. This is not true. This image only promotes the false image that the police, in general, are good and honest while hiding the depth of the problem. The fact is that police corruption was a problem from the very inception of municipal policing in the 1800s. Some historians claim that the first organized publicly funded police department was in Boston in 1838. Other sources report that "the New York City Police Department was the first established in the United States in 1844. In America’s South, unlike the North’s interest in the police for the protection of shipping and other commerce, the police patrol centered on capturing runaway slaves and the prevention of slave revolts.

By the end of the century, the New York City Police Department was under investigation by a New York State Senate Committee, and there has been public demand for police reform ever since. I witnessed the public demand for police reform since the 1960s. Now, we are in 2023, and police reform has yet to produce satisfactory results.

One could say, Hold on, wait a minute. Much progress has been made. There are African-American mayors and police commissioners. Is this not progress? Are you saying that police officers unfairly and unlawfully target African-American citizens in police departments headed by African-American police commissioners and treat them unfairly? The answer is, Yes! Electing an African-American mayor and or appointing an African-American Police Commissioner alone does not stop the racist treatment of black and brown citizens. Nor does it prevent black and brown police officers from being discriminated against. Nor does the appointment of a female Police Commissioner stop sexual harassment in a given police department.

What Is Police Corruption?

In this book, the words corruption and misconduct will be used interchangeably. These words describe knowingly unlawful activities committed by police officers, lower-level supervisors, and high-ranking supervisors. Lower-level supervisors are Lieutenants and below. That is to say, Lieutenants, Sergeants, and, in some police departments, Corporals. High-ranking supervisors are Captains and above. Captains, Inspectors, Deputy Chiefs, Police Chiefs, and Police Commissioner. When I write high-ranking supervisors, it means the same as upper management supervisors or command staff supervisors. These supervisors are the top portion of the police department’s chain of command. The chain of command starts from the lowest-ranked police officer to the highest-ranked police officer. Most police departments have a different chain of command. Some might not have the rank of corporal, for example, while others might not have the rank of inspector.

Nevertheless, the critical fact is that upper-management supervisors control the police department. They are responsible for establishing rules, regulations, policies, procedures, training, re-training, work assignments, work schedules, vacation schedules, internal corruption investigations, and removing corrupt officers from their police departments. They have the controlling power, not the police officers at the bottom of the police department’s organizational structure.

The Purpose of this Book

The purpose of this book is to dispel the myths surrounding policing in the United States. Towards this end, this book will look at several police departments in various geographical locations in the United States, some large, some mid-sized, and some small. This book will examine how police officers are trained, disciplined, and supervised and how their performance is evaluated. It will also discuss how crime statistics are manipulated, police use of force, and the blue wall of silence or thin blue line. Most importantly, solutions will be offered that could have a significant, meaningful impact on policing in the US and prevent innocent citizens from being harmed. Since there are more than fifteen thousand municipal police departments in the United States, it is impossible to examine them all. The omission of any police department does not indicate the absence of corruption.

This book will focus on the internal operations of municipal police departments and how they are supposed to operate according to law. It will also be explained how those internal operations do not follow the law. The internal operating procedures of law enforcement agencies are hidden from the public view. Publicly funded police agencies proclaim fairness, honesty, and promises of non-tolerance for police corruption. However, their hidden actions contradict fairness, honesty, and the rule of law. This book is about understanding systemic police corruption, the lives it destroys, the careers it shatters, the wasted tax resources, and how high-ranking police officials maintain systemic corruption.

Who Am I?

I’m a retired Police Lieutenant with more than twenty-five years of law enforcement experience. I have investigated incidents ranging from harassment to homicide. As a police supervisor, I have worked in the patrol division, investigative division, and administrative division of the police department. I am an expert in police procedures and police internal investigations and discipline. I have consulted not only citizen complainants of police misconduct but also police complainants of police misconduct in New Jersey and across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. During my police career, I was also a victim of police brutality.

I have written numerous official complaints about citizens’ constitutional rights violations by the Newark Police Department in Newark, New Jersey, the only supervisor in the entire department to do so. In 2014, a United States Department of Justice Investigation into the Newark Police Department proved that what I complained about was true. I was also the only supervisor in the entire police department to complain about the unlawful termination of a police officer. Fourteen years after making official written complaints about that wrongful termination, a verdict from a federal jury proved I was telling the truth. I have also complained about arrest quotas, racial differential treatment, corruption by high-ranking police supervisors, and other severe acts of corruption.

I was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in high-rise public housing (the projects). My family was at one time on welfare. In that environment, I was taught not to be a crook. My parents, extended family, and the very hardworking men and women in my neighborhood kept me on the straight and narrow and helped mold me into the man I am today.

This book is not about my opinion. What I present in this book is verified by documentary evidence:

a) Court transcripts, state and federal law, the United States Constitution, police policy, and procedures.

b) Reports authored by independent commissions investigating police corruption.

c) Internal police reports and memos.

d) Written complaints filed against the police by citizens and police officers.

I am not an attorney, and nothing in this book should be considered legal advice or a substitute for legal advice. If you are a victim of police misconduct, you must seek the advice of a competent, battle-tested lawyer.

Much of the information in this book is drawn from my personal experience with policing and filing numerous complaints about racial differential treatment and corruption committed by high-ranking police supervisors. Hopefully, the facts revealed in this book will help promote the sweeping changes necessary for policing and the so-called criminal justice system.

Chapter 2: What Is Systemic Police Corruption?

In this chapter, I will define systemic police corruption. In providing the definition, I will discuss how systems function. The entire system in question is not readily revealed to the average citizen. Therefore, only a small part of the system is available for public examination. Without having a comprehensive knowledge of the most vital parts of the police system, the public can’t have a complete understanding of the crisis that is systemic police corruption. Fortunately, I have a comprehensive knowledge of all the vital parts of the police system and will provide that information and explanations.

The Invisibility of the System

What is a system? A system is a group of interacting or interrelated or interdependent elements forming a complex whole. Take, for example, a computer system. The computer system could be a desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or smartwatch. However, the person using or interacting with the system only does so at the surface level. Most of the components and processes of the computer system are invisible and unfamiliar to the average user. The user has enough information to operate the computer program or app. Still, the user cannot explain what components the computer program is interacting with and how those interactions occur. The same would apply to your home plumbing system or home electrical system. When you turn the faucet on, you expect water to come out. You interact with the plumbing system without a conscious understanding or visualization of the entire system. You interact with a small portion of the plumbing system while the majority of the system’s parts and components are hidden from view behind walls.

This book is not about computer systems or plumbing systems. It is about the police system or law enforcement, a substantial component of the criminal justice system. Individuals will only have contact with, at most, a few people in that system. Thus, if these few operate unfairly, the individual will believe that the problem emanates from those few. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Other unseen portions of the system are at the heart of its operation.

The Police System

The police system comprises police officers, lower-level supervisors, and high-ranking supervisors. High-ranking supervisors control the police system and determine how it functions. Thus, if widespread corruption exists in a Police Department, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the high-ranking supervisors. Period, and uncomplicated. However, police supervisors and high-ranking police officials consistently fail to discover and stop serious police corruption. These failures are not caused by ignorance. They are caused by willful unlawful acts to protect corrupt cops or for personal career and financial gain, protection of the law enforcement image, and purging the agency of truth-telling cops.

When politicians or top police officials are replaced, police corruption usually continues to persist and thrive. Replace the police chief, police commissioner, or police director, and police corruption continues. Make a change in the elected officials representing a specific city, and police corruption will continue in that city’s police department.

To get the best understanding of systemic police corruption, do not focus on the individual police officer. Perhaps you have a friend or relative who is a police officer or police supervisor. That person may have a wonderful personality and demeanor and may not be abusive or racist. Nevertheless, that friend or relative belongs to a publicly funded agency with an established police culture, a culture that is violent and corrupt. That systemic cultural reality controls the careers of all police officers. As a result, your friend or relative may act differently when at work than when with you.

Please understand it is not the responsibility of corrupt cops to surrender and make confessions admitting their crimes. It is the responsibility of high-ranking police supervisors to apprehend the rogue cops and purge them from the police department. This fact is mentioned several times to counteract years of indoctrination the general public has received about the few rotten apples. It’s a constant mantra promoted by police officials that seeks to have the public focus on the police organization’s bottom instead of focusing on the decision-makers at the top of the police agency.

Police Corruption Profits

Police corruption satisfies a desired objective. That desired objective is usually financial gain. While performing police duties, police officers encounter citizens who have committed a crime. The usual intent and motivation to commit a crime is for financial gain. There is a laundry list of crimes, from mugging to murder, that result in economic gains for the person committing the crime. It is not just the well-known distribution of illicit drugs that produces profits for the criminal nor the very old unlawful prostitution and gambling crimes. There is robbery, extortion, human trafficking, bribery, burglary, theft, fraud, arson, and other crimes. Any one of the named criminal offenses can provide tens of thousands of dollars in profits.

However, not all crimes are planned or committed for financial gain. The desire to cover up or prevent the detection of a prior crime can prompt the guilty person to commit another crime. Hatred, jealousy, revenge, and intimidation are also motivating factors for committing crimes. Also, some citizens are deranged psychopaths who commit crimes. Similarly, not all acts of police corruption are solely committed for financial gain. Hatred, racism, revenge, power, psychopathic and sadistic behavior are also factors in police corruption. Nevertheless, the police officer who commits acts of corruption that don’t result in financial gain will also participate in corruption activities that produce financial gain. Similar to a person struggling with an alcohol problem, the corrupt behavior becomes additive and individually normalized.

Police officers have countless opportunities to engage in misconduct that provide financial benefits. For example, a citizen forces their way into a clothing store and removes twenty coats. This citizen is apprehended a short distance from the store in possession of twenty coats. However, only fifteen coats are submitted into evidence, and the apprehending police officers keep the other five coats. If the involved officers had a deeper commitment to corruption, only five coats would be submitted into evidence, and the apprehending officers would retain the other fifteen. Using