NEARLY 400 COPS ON THE SCENE AND THEY STTOD AROUND FOR AN HOUR WHILE 19 KIDS AND TWO TEACHERS WERE BEING SLAUGHTERED

In Response to BGB Blog: The Biggest Police Scandal in U.S. History 

 

By Trey Rusk

 

 

A mourner stops to pay his respects at a memorial at Robb Elementary School 

 

I believe that as a police officer you must protect the citizens. Individual police officers on the scene in Uvalde tried to do what was required and were stopped. Individual officer discretion has eroded.  This is a result of a lack of back up by the public, police administrators and prosecutors.  Yes, this is a big police scandal. It is not the biggest police scandal in U.S. history.  That still belongs to the crooked NYC police department in the 60's and 70's.  Almost total department corruption from top to bottom.    

 

Fifty years ago, starting on October 18, 1971, hearings were held before the Knapp Commission in New York City to address some of the most damning corruption charges ever leveled against an entire police department.  There was never an accurate way to measure the number of citizens who died during this era of police crookedness.  

  

On April 25, 1970, David Burnham’s article “Graft Paid to Police Here Said To Run Into Millions” ran in The New York Times. According to Michael F. Armstrong’s They Wished They Were Honest: The Knapp Commission and New York City Police Corruption, the article prompted former New York mayor John Lindsay to form the Knapp Commission. 

 

Here are just some of the corruption stories All Headlines) about New York’s Finest: 

Frank Serpico exposes rampant corruption (1970) 

77th Precinct “Buddy Boys” (1986) 

The Long Island Cocaine Ring (1992) 

The Dirty 30 (1993) 

The Mafia Cops (2006) 

Yes, The Uvalde School Shooting was a horrible crime and showed a lack of leadership, poor decisions and even officers who may have been afraid to enter and do their duty. I question why Texas DPS who was on the scene, did not take charge and make immediate entry? It was a black day for Texas law enforcement. However, it doesn’t compare with the New York PD’s record of corruption which included murder, extortion and drug dealing.