Police Officer Case Study

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Angela Veles Crime 330 Thursday 7:00pm Outline Major Topic: Should Captains, Supervisor and Police Officers be immune to the Criminal Justice system or should their ranking be enough to hold them to a higher standard than the ordinary citizen, or does in fact rank bestow privilege? Brief Summary: On February 12, 1998, about 11 p.m., Philadelphia Police Captain James Brady, off duty, left a bar drunk, got into his department-issued Grand Fury, and headed home. A few blocks from the bar Brady rear-ended a parked car, causing substantial damage both to his car and to the Honda Civic he hit. When Captain Brady got pulled over he identified himself with his badge, hence the obvious inference that he was asking for special treatment,…show more content…
He ordered Yatcilla to place the car against a pillar, radioed in an "auto accident" involving a "fixed object," and then ordered Colon to write a report indicating that Brady had swerved to avoid an oncoming car, mounted the sidewalk, and struck the pillar. Neither Colon nor Yatcilla seems to have objected to staging an accident or filing a false report. Yet, filing a false report commits at least two offences: Tampering with a Public Record; and Obstruction of the Administration of the Law. Each is a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of two years in prison. (4) Staging an accident is Insurance Fraud, a third degree felony punishable by a maximum of seven years imprisonment. (5) And working with others to stage an accident is Conspiracy to Commit Insurance Fraud, an equally serious crime. (6) DiLacqua had turned two traffic offenses into four crimes, two of them felonies. Because the reported accident involved a Police Department vehicle, the dispatcher had to notify the Department's Accident Investigation Division (AID). Two AID investigators soon arrived and DiLacqua told them the story he had prepared, with Brady and the two officers standing by. (7) DiLacqua's testimony is another false report. After trying to retrieve some items Brady had forgotten at the bar (including his service revolver), DiLacqua ordered Yatcilla to drive Brady home--something, one hopes, the Philadelphia police would do for any driver whose car was disabled in an

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