Mike Rich
Michael Richardson
Prof. Welbourn
PHIL 416-OM1
November 08, 2012
The Cop Who Could Not Be Bought The whistleblower poses no single entity, whether it being a single person or a business as a whole, to count itself immune to the dangers of corruption or malfeasance. Those who blow the whistle can neither risk the silencing of themselves for reasons of concrete evidence that question the proper moral and ethical interests of the public eye. According to Sissela Bok, “’Whistleblowing’ is a new label generated by our increased awareness of ethical conflicts encountered at work. Whistleblowers sound an alarm from within the very organization in which they work, aiming to spotlight neglect or abuses that threaten the public interest.” Take Frank Serpico, for example, a man whom was willing to risk his life, yet alone his career, to sound the alarm on the corruption within the very organization for which he worked for, the New York Police Department. Here in my discussion, we will examine and discuss Serpico’s case in correlation to the points made by Sissela Bok’s discussion on whistleblowing. In September of 1959, Frank Serpico joined the New York Police Department as a probationary patrolman. After working restlessly for several months, Serpico was then promoted as a full-time patrolman in March of 1960. He was then assigned to the 81st police precinct, where he was exposed to arresting people in drugs, prostitution, and gambling. As an upstanding police officer, Serpico was offered numerous bribes under his new department but refused to accept them from criminals. Soon enough, he discovered that many of his fellow officers saw these bribes as something else, frequently accepting them and pocketing evidence as well. After witnessing continuous accounts of corruption within the system and the ever-growing stress brought upon him; in 1967 Serpico decided to report “the systematic and widespread corruption” to the police department, soon to find that his report
Prof. Welbourn
PHIL 416-OM1
November 08, 2012
The Cop Who Could Not Be Bought The whistleblower poses no single entity, whether it being a single person or a business as a whole, to count itself immune to the dangers of corruption or malfeasance. Those who blow the whistle can neither risk the silencing of themselves for reasons of concrete evidence that question the proper moral and ethical interests of the public eye. According to Sissela Bok, “’Whistleblowing’ is a new label generated by our increased awareness of ethical conflicts encountered at work. Whistleblowers sound an alarm from within the very organization in which they work, aiming to spotlight neglect or abuses that threaten the public interest.” Take Frank Serpico, for example, a man whom was willing to risk his life, yet alone his career, to sound the alarm on the corruption within the very organization for which he worked for, the New York Police Department. Here in my discussion, we will examine and discuss Serpico’s case in correlation to the points made by Sissela Bok’s discussion on whistleblowing. In September of 1959, Frank Serpico joined the New York Police Department as a probationary patrolman. After working restlessly for several months, Serpico was then promoted as a full-time patrolman in March of 1960. He was then assigned to the 81st police precinct, where he was exposed to arresting people in drugs, prostitution, and gambling. As an upstanding police officer, Serpico was offered numerous bribes under his new department but refused to accept them from criminals. Soon enough, he discovered that many of his fellow officers saw these bribes as something else, frequently accepting them and pocketing evidence as well. After witnessing continuous accounts of corruption within the system and the ever-growing stress brought upon him; in 1967 Serpico decided to report “the systematic and widespread corruption” to the police department, soon to find that his report
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