Dent Tip Line Targets City's Dirty Cops
Crusading Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent today announced the opening of a public tip line to report on police corruption. At a press conference at the epicenter of the Narrows Attack, Dent asked citizens to participate in "taking back Gotham" from what Dent said was "a police department where the honest cops are hamstrung by official corruption."
The public tip line will initially open with a web site - www.wearetheanswer.org - where citizens suspicious of police behavior can report possible malfeasance. A special task force on Dent's staff will then probe the matter, bypassing the police department, which Dent claims is incapable of investigating their own.
"For too long, the good families of Gotham have lived in fear of murder, robbery, and bedlam, while corrupt police have done nothing but line their pockets with our citizens' misery," Dent said.
"There is a cancer in the Police Department," continued Dent. "I ask all public-minded citizens to report any cops suspected of working with the criminals that feed on Gotham's blood."
Dent claims that other cities have benefited from public tip lines. But critics say that public tip lines have often smeared the name of good officials without being effective in catching corrupt officers.
In a sign of the growing split within the city's legal apparatus, Acting District Attorney Roger Garcetti joined Dent's detractors with a withering attack on the tip line.
Garcetti said Dent's public tip line was a "cynical act of political opportunism which will not protect a single citizen from the real dangers facing them."
"At a time when Gotham must come together to fight for our city, Harvey Dent is dividing the city in a senseless witch hunt against our boys in blue," Garcetti said.
Police officers seemed vehemently opposed to the public tip line. GPD officer Jim Rosythe said that he considered the public tip line a personal insult against him and other officers.
"We are risking our lives every day out there," Forsythe said. "And then some politician thinks he can climb a little higher by trashing us. It's pathetic."
Dent acknowledged the concerns of the GPD, saying that he believed most cops are not corrupt. However, Dent said that any police corruption must be confronted if Gotham is to stop the crime wave terrorizing the city.
"The criminals are safe, hiding behind a corrupt police department protecting thugs and mobsters. Once we roll up the dirty cops, we can take down the gangs destroying this great city," Dent said.
The Gotham Police Department has been rocked by a series of corruption scandals in recent years.
The notorious "Brambles Plot" last year netted 14 cops suspected of taking money from Carmine Falcone's men. The cases have not yet gone to trial.
Other members of the GPD who have been implicated in malfeasance include Jim Cornigan, Roger DeCarlo, A. Flass, Peter Grogan, Timothy Monroy, and Jordan Riche.
Three years ago, there was talk of Washington DC stepping in and federalizing the department so that it could be purged of compromised elements. However, the plan was stymied by a constitutional challenge by Gotham City.
Dent's announcement of the public tip line was highly choreographed. Dent walked through the epicenter of the Narrows Attack with a group of citizens who lost family members in the attack. During his opening statement, dozens of citizens arrived holding pre-made signs reading "STOP COP ROT!"
Gotham residents can go to www.wearetheanswer.org. Forms allow all citizens to report suspicious police activity. Dent assured citizens that their confidentiality will be protected.
