That’s excusing the abandonment of the rule of law.
> That’s excusing the abandonment of the rule of law.
A subtle difference, at the time Serpico joined the NYPD, the rule of law had already been abandoned. What he tried to do was a bottom up restoration of the rule of law.
While there really was no excuse for the leadership to abandon the rule of law like they did, neither the police command nor the elected leaders *wanted* to change, or to do the hard work necessary to bring about change.
This meant that Serpico wanted to force his peers to change, force the police chain of command to change, and force the political leaders to change.
And that is not the way things are done, either in a functional system or a dysfunctional one.
His alternative was to seek employment elsewhere. In a different place, he might have ascended to become a chief. But as it is, he is just a bitter old man.