Knapp Commission Case Study

The Knapp Commission was invented to investigate the alleged police corruption at the New York City Police Department. The Knapp Commission got its start when police officer Frank Serpico and a Sergeant David Durk, publicly talked about the corruption at the New York City Police Department. When the Knapp Commission got started there was five members on the panel that was first formed in April of 1970. The five members on the panel were Whitman Knapp, Arnold Bauman, Franklin Thomas, Cyrus Vance, and Joseph Monserrat. The Knapp Commission was started by the mayor of New York City, John Lindsay. Even though the Knapp Commission was created in April of 1970 the investigation of the New York City Police Department did not begin the investigation until the beginning of June that year. The panel of Knapp Commission examined the corruption in the New York City Police Department and made several recommendations to stop the corruption at the Police Department. After the corruption was found in the Police Department the recommendations that were made included the commanders being held accountable for the officers under them, have undercover informants that should be place in all precincts, improve the screening and selection methods and standards, and lastly an internal affairs division should be created at all precincts. The Knapp …show more content…
Gratuities are items of value receive by someone because of his or her role or job rather than because of a personal relationship. “Grass Eaters” are passive and will accept items that are offered to them. Officers that eat grass will likely participate in passive types of police corruption by accepting opportunities of corruption that present themselves, like accepting gifts or free items. An example of a grass eater is accepting a free coffee from a diner around the corner from the police