Police Corruption in LA Confidential and Training Day

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For years police corruption has been a major problem in American society but where is the line between moral and unethical police corruption, many modern movies address this vary issue. Some films portray how types of police corruption can have a positive influence on society, while others show the dark side of police corruption. Many law enforcement agents join the criminal justice with the basic idea of “justice for all,” however, most of them do not realize that the nice guy doesn’t always win. Even though there are vast amounts of movies which specifically address police corruption we will use three main movies for our argument today, mostly LA Confidential, however, also Training Day. Two main characters in LA Confidential, Bud White and Jack Vincennes, portray officers who have lost sight of why they initially entered law enforcement and work along with unwritten book of practiced ignorance within the department, which only adds to corruption within police departments. But, there is a new man on the beat, Edmund Exley, who has not been around the business long enough to become the unethical officer his peers have descended to be. So where do ethics play a role; what’s the distinction between the grass eaters and the meat eaters in the end. Officer Windell “Bud” White, played by Russell Crowe, grew up in a poor family dynamic. Having watched his mother be beat to death by his father after he tried to defend her and was chained to a radiator he inherited a strong animosity toward women beaters. In his police work he took swift action when he witnessed or even suspected any sort of assault against women. However, just as many police officers who fall to corruption he began accepting gratuities. Gratuities of alcohol, which assist in first getting his partner intoxicated on the job, and later is added to a party held in the departments headquarters. This party, while initially a held for Christmas, lead to a group of Mexicans being beaten for assaulting two officers on Christmas eve. Bud had become entangled in the web of police corruption before he knew it, and soon found himself indicting innocent people, and even beating them into confessions, to simply get the job done and satisfy the captain. Bud, though initially having good intentions when he joined the police force, lost sight of his rea... ... middle of paper ... ...ind their little cousins wallet in Hoyt’s pocket. This is Hoyt’s ticket out of here, explaining to the men that earlier in the day he had saved her from being raped single-handedly, Alonzo standing close by lighting a cigarette. Later that night Alonzo is murdered by the Russian mafia because Hoyt tips them off as to where he is going, again the criminal taken down in street justice. So can there be such a thing as ethical police corruption? It seems so in these two examples, in the end the obviously guilty party paid a punishment somehow. I think Lieutenant Ed Exley and Officer Jack Hoyt have defined the line between moral and immoral police corruption. If the corruption adds to the problems in society, the corrupt individual needs to have proper punishment imposed. If this punishment can only be given by an underling officer who knows the truth then let what needs to be done be done. The end justifies the means. Bibliography: LA Confidential. Dir. Curtis Hanson. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Russel Crowe, Guy Pierce, Kim Bassinger, Danny DeVito. Regency, 1997. Training Day. Dir. Antoine Fuqua. Perf. Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke. Warner Bros. 2001

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