Jack King, Director of Public Affairs
202-872-8600, media@nacdl.com
Jack King, Director of Public Affairs
202-872-8600, media@nacdl.com
New York City's "finest" had a "litany of manufactured tales" for nearly any occasion, according to the findings in 1994 of the blue-ribbon Commission to Investigate Allegations of Police Corruption as it completed a two-year investigation of New York police misconduct. The Commission noted was that once officers lie about the basis for an illegal arrest or illegal search -- such as falsifying an arrest report, complaint report, search warrant application, or evidence voucher -- they tend to stick to their story. They commit perjury in front of grand juries and at trials as casually as they'd tell a fairy tale to their toddler.
The Commission found that the problem was far more widespread than assumed. Typically, greed or corruption was not the motivation behind officers giving perjured testimony. They would routinely lie under oath to conceal illegal acts of fellow officers. They saw such "testilying" as a "legitimate" law enforcement tool for putting persons they believed guilty behind bars. Worse, members of the law enforcement community informed the Commission that prosecutors routinely tolerated the conduct!
The Commission also found that many police officers did not consider giving false testimony as a form of "corruption" which they believed implies personal profit. Instead, they viewed "testilying" as just another way to "get the job done."
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)