Noble cause is a moral to make the community safe. This is what motivates most people to become police officers. Officers follow this principle when dealing with citizens and offenders. Some officers find that their duty to make their community safe is more important than doing it the right way. This can lead to corruption among officers.

In most situations of corruption in a police department, it is the “rotten apple” officers who are the ones doing wrong. However, in noble cause corruption, it is often the best officers who commit the wrongdoing; they believe that the ends justify the means. Essentially this means that a good outcome is more important than the actions required to get there. Although the officers believe that what they are doing is helpful, it can do more harm than good. In Boston in February 1988, Officer Carlos Luna applied for a search warrant stating that according to an informant, a Hispanic male had been distributing cocaine from an apartment (Commonwealth v. Lewin, 1989). Luna stated that he had purchased cocaine from the Hispanic gentleman on February 15 and 16, 1988. The warrant was approved, and several officers went to the residence to arrest the man. While executing the search warrant, Detective Sherman Griffiths was shot a killed by Albert Lewin. In early December of that year, Luna testified that he had an informant named John about the drug dealings from the apartment. Luna did not know much about John; he did not know John’s full name, how long John had lived in Massachusetts, John’s education, or where John lived, Luna said that he had met with John several times, even after the shooting and as recent as August of that year. During the trial it was noted that Luna had obtained 31 search warrants with information he had gathered from John between June of 1987 and March of 1988. Luna was instructed to find John and bring him in to testify. Luna was not able to present his informant, and it was discovered that the information provided by John had been falsified. By the end of the trial, Luna and the other officers involved admitted that they had lied about the informant and the court was able to decide that John did in fact not exist. As a result, Luna was sentenced to five years’ probation and was forced to resign from the police (Luna v. Massachusetts, 2004).

Officer Luna believed that falsifying information and an informant was an acceptable action because it would result in getting a drug dealer off the street, therefore making the community he lived in a safe place. However, Officer Luna’s actions caused the death of a fellow officer and the loss of his job.

Law enforcement officers have a duty to protect their community. Sometimes, the best officers take that duty too far and take illegal actions to ensure that the people of their community are safe. Law enforcement officers have a choice to make: to follow the law completely to the end or to take illegal or legal shortcuts to obtain justice.

References

Commonwealth vs. Lewin. 405 Mass. 566. (1989).

Luna v. Massachusetts 354. F.3d 108. (2004).