Hello all!

In response to Aviva’s question, I do believe that there are only a small percentage of officers who are bad apples. Of course the definintion of “bad apples” is always open to discussion because there are varying degrees of misconduct and negligence that happen on a daily basis.

Sadly those bad apples do spoil the whole bunch. Adding to the spoilage is that most officers develop an us vs. them mindset that is part of the culture and thus will not take direct action when they witness abuses.

The culture needs to be changed from the top, starting at the federal level on down to the day one recruit officer.

The U.S. Department of Justice has historically intervened in response to serious cases of departmental misconduct however they do not maintain ongoing oversight. States currently oversee police agencies. A good starting point would be a DOJ data base of every sworn law enforcement officer nationwide, monitoring behavior and misconduct and reducing the chances of rogue officers getting hired at other agencies after termination or resignation under questionable circumstance.