Blue On Blue

In one of my other 9 Lives I am convinced that I was a cop. My uncle, he was a sergeant Ft Apache The Bronx thought that I would be a good one. I wasn't just a cop in one of my other lives I was a NYPD cop. In my late 30s I was going to try out for the New Canaan PD but I ended up in jail instead. I missed the physical fitness tryout, I was convinced that I was going to fail the sit and reach test anyway because my flexibility has a lot to be desired.  I just read Blue On Blue Charles Campisi, he was the IAB (Internal Affairs Bureau) Chief of the NYPD for many years. I read many NYPD books- Without A Badge about Jerry Speziale Bernie Keriks friend who lost his mind towards the end because he went way deep into his deep cover role. I read Blue Blood not Blue Bloods. Blue Blood (non fiction) was about a Harvard grad who hit the streets on foot patrol  in the Bronx instead of venturing into the high towers of finance. Blue On Blue was a great book, he turned around the Dept. from the 1970s when it was a virtual war zone. Lets face it if you are going to be a cop then play the role and if you operate above the law and end up playing both sides then you deserve what you get. Campisi had his Serpico moment when he first started out and  his partner derided him for basically not condoning wanting to shoot some young kid in the back. You cant let the inmates run the asylum and that is why Blue On Blue has a lot to be proud of. NYPD has a lot of pride along with the FBI as the Supreme Law Enforcement Agency of the Land. Here is what it come down to, as IAB chief he had an obligation to follow up on some ugly allegations conducted by some rogue cops and that is exactly what he did. That is why it makes big news when the shit hits the fan, that just means that he was doing his job. The reality seems to be that well over 90% of the NYPD are straight shooters. It all trickles  down from the top. In other words when you had a cop like Serpico who ended up getting shot in the face under suspicious circumstances then how does one turn around that kind of rogue atmosphere? Its cowardly to act like a criminal instead of a real cop when the opportunity presents itself. I am not perfect, all of the bad things that I did went down on my fifth step but I am convinced that if I had the stability of a NYPD cop in a proud and pure dept. then I wouldn't have fell off the wagon. My IAB dept. would run just like Campisis without the Olivia Benson boyfriend types. That guy is a stiff no wonder why so many NYPD cops hate the IAB guys. How did Olivia end up in a relationship with that guy, I knew that it would never last. In other words if you are a real criminal then you would have a lot to fear if I were running the IAB show. If you did petty things like fix tickets and had sex with hookers then you wouldn't have anything to worry about. As long as the sex was consensual. No extortion racketeering protection rackets for prostitution rings or drug dealers but if you gambled and stole a little money then you would be offered rehabilitation and a second chance. I don't respect this million dollar mistake rule. Campisi talked about how some of these guys are so dumb they ended up getting thrown off the force with no pension. In other words if you used drugs and your blood test came back dirty you wouldn't be thrown out. WTF that is ridiculous why is there a double standard with alcohol, a drug is a drug and alcohol is actually a lot more dangerous then most if not all drugs. In other words my IAB dept. would build people up for success rather then failure. I can see why a lot of guys hate the IAB. Who wants to enforce the law with an ever present fear of the eye in the sky who never tells a lie looking down on them because that is creepy. The Orwellian Panopticon who is going to come down on you from the holy heavens and reign real hell for bs bureaucratic infractions? I would let a lot of things slide but real criminals would have a lot to worry about. I can now see why nobody likes Deblassio. Guiliani helped straighten out the streets of New York with stop and frisk. The crime and murder rate went down precipitously with stop and frisk. The incidence of police shootings went down as well. People don't seem to have a clue because most cops never want to have to shoot somebody. Maybe these anti police people should read a book or two then they wouldn't be so dumb. Page 5 in the Prologue summarizes this great book, Charles Campisi is an excellent writer- "Its a hard business were in, a hard world in which we operate. Its a world full of lies and deception and betrayal, a world of snitches and informants, wires and wiretaps, surveillance and sting operations. Its a world of good cops gone bad and bad cops gone worse, of cops who rob and steal and deal drugs and abuse and rape and even kill people. There are never as many cops like that out there as some people choose to believe, but for us, and for all of the honest cops, there are always too many. And they are the reason we exist"