Quote of the Day

"I thought I was not naïve. But even this court was shocked, not only by the seeming pervasive scope of misconduct but even more distressingly by the seeming casualness by which such conduct is employed."—Justice Gustin L. Reichbach of the New York State Supreme Court, to the New York City Police Department, before rendering his verdict against former detective Jason Arbeeny, a 14-year veteran of the Brooklyn South unit who was convicted of planting drugs on Yvelisse DeLeon and her boyfriend, Juan Figueroa. Arbeeny now faces up to four years in prison.

Being shocked at the scope and nonchalance of police misconduct is, in part, a function of Justice Reichbach's privilege, of course: There are many people of a different race and/or class than Reichbach who would not share his astonishment.

But it's also indicative of a genuine gap in our cultural assumptions about the level of rigorous oversight and accountability in police departments (particularly urban police departments) and the actual level of oversight and accountability.

That disparity between public perception and reality has always existed—my grandfather, a career NYPD detective used to say that the most realistic cop show ever put on television was Barney Miller—but I think the chasm has widened with the advent of procedural shows like the Law & Order and CSI franchises.

Obviously, there are tons of good cops; that's not the point. The point is that both the good and the bad cops are operating within a system that assumes decency equally of all of them.