The bad apples metaphor originated as a warning of the corrupting influence of one corrupt or sinful person on a group: that "one bad apple can spoil the barrel". Over time the concept has been used to describe the opposite situation, where "a few bad apples" should not be seen as representative of the rest of their group. This latter version is often used in the context of police misconduct.
The bad apples metaphor originates from the proverb "A rotten apple quickly infects its neighbor", first recorded as used in English in 1340. [1] The proverb was rephrased by Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanack in 1736, stating "the rotten apple spoils his companion." [2] The phrase was popularized by sermons during the 19th century, claiming "As one bad apple spoils the others, so you must show no quarter to sin or sinners." [3] A popular form of the saying became "One bad apple spoils the barrel." [4] [5]
The saying has scientific basis: as well as mold being able to spread from one rotten fruit to others, [6] ripening apples produce ethylene gas, which triggers aging and increases ethylene production in other, nearby apples. [7]
Linguists such as Ben Zimmer have pointed out that the proverb began to be used in the opposite sense in the 20th century, [8] instead stating that "a few bad apples" are not representative of a group. [3] [4] According to Zimmer, this usage may have corresponded to the change in the grocery trade, where modern shops sold apples individually and would rarely put rotten ones on display, and people stopped thinking of apples as being stored in barrels. [4] Zimmer said that "once the phrase is out there again and people are saying 'one bad apple,' you think, 'What could that mean?' Then you can assign it new meaning."
Zimmer suggests the change in usage may have been solidified by the Osmonds 1971 song "One Bad Apple", which includes the line "One bad apple don’t spoil the whole bunch, girl." [9] [4]
When the US Army's war crimes at Abu Ghraib surfaced, the condemnation given by the George W. Bush administration was characterised by the press as blaming "a few bad apples" for abuse of prisoners. [10] [11]
Barack Obama used the bad apple metaphor in a 2013 speech to defend his Healthcare law when thousands of Americans were losing their health insurance. He claimed that it was the fault of "bad apple" insurance companies rather than his Healthcare law. [12]
The bad apples metaphor has been used by pro-police politicians, municipalities, and police themselves to defend police organizations when police officers are criticized for alleged misconduct. [13] [14] The metaphor communicates that the few criticized officers do not reflect the performance and behavior of the rest. [15]
Pro-police officials were first recorded as using the metaphor following the beating of Rodney King and it was used following the shootings of Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor, and the murder of George Floyd. [4] [3] U.S. President Donald Trump used the bad apples metaphor to defend police in a Dallas speech in June 2020, claiming that there are bad apples in every organization and there remains a need for police to protect citizens. [14] In his first presidential debate with Donald Trump on September 29, 2020, Joe Biden used the bad apples metaphor to defend policing when asked about racial inequality in terms of the justice system, claiming that the vast majority of police officers are "good, decent, honorable men and women". [16]
Critics of policing have often rejected use of the metaphor, arguing that policing is a fundamentally broken and racist system. They claim that policing is flawed beyond repair, citing black people being disproportionately more targeted by police than white people and referencing that the police originated from slave patrols. They say that existing police forces must be abolished since attempts at reform are ineffective. A common counter metaphor used by critics such as Rashawn Ray is that the metaphorical apple tree that officers come from is rotten to its roots and must be replaced. [17]
Anarchist author Kristian Williams claimed in his book, Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America, that the bad apples argument is a way for police departments to displace blame onto a few officers to avoid criticism and actually changing as a whole. [18]
Critics of the police also accuse officers in general of being aware of who "bad apple" officers are and being complicit with them, giving as examples the three other officers present not stopping Derek Chauvin from murdering George Floyd and that 57 Buffalo officers resigned after two officers were suspended for shoving a 75-year-old man. Harry Litman, a US attorney who has worked with police, has said that it is difficult for police departments and other officers to remove "bad apple" officers due to systematic practices protecting them, giving as an example that Derek Chauvin had 17 complaints on his record before murdering George Floyd. [15] [3] A study on the integrity of police by the National Institute of Justice found that, while over 80% of officers they surveyed do not believe in keeping silent when aware of misconduct by other officers, 24.9% of them agreed whistleblowing was not worth it, 67.4% of officers believe they are more likely to be given a "cold shoulder" by their police peers if they report misconduct, and 52.4% believe it is not unusual for cops to turn a blind eye to police misconduct. [19]
"The Big Apple" is a nickname for New York City. It was first popularized in the 1920s by John J. Fitz Gerald, a sportswriter for the New York Morning Telegraph. Its popularity since the 1970s is due in part to a promotional campaign by the New York tourist authorities.
Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, asphyxiation, beatings, shootings, improper takedowns, and unwarranted use of tasers.
You can't have your cake and eat it (too) is a popular English idiomatic proverb or figure of speech. The proverb literally means "you cannot simultaneously retain possession of a cake and eat it, too". Once the cake is eaten, it is gone. It can be used to say that one cannot have two incompatible things, or that one should not try to have more than is reasonable. The proverb's meaning is similar to the phrases "you can't have it both ways" and "you can't have the best of both worlds." The French equivalent is "on ne peut pas avoir le beurre et l'argent du beurre", literally "you can't have the butter and the money from the butter".
In law enforcement in the United States, a gypsy cop, also known as a wandering police officer, is a police officer who frequently transfers between police departments, having a record of misconduct or unsuitable job performance. The term is slang, referencing the stereotypical nomadic lifestyle of Gypsies.
The United States Capitol Police (USCP) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States with nationwide jurisdiction charged with protecting the United States Congress within the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its territories. It answers to the Capitol Police Board and is the only full-service federal law enforcement agency appointed by the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States.
The blue wall of silence, also blue code and blue shield, are terms used to denote the informal code of silence among police officers in the United States not to report on a colleague's errors, misconducts, or crimes, especially as related to police brutality in the United States. If questioned about an incident of alleged misconduct involving another officer, while following the code, the officer being questioned would perjure themselves by feigning ignorance of another officer's wrongdoing.
United States Army Captain Carolyn Wood is a military intelligence officer who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. She was implicated by the Fay Report to have "failed" in several aspects of her command regarding her oversight of interrogators at Abu Ghraib. She was alleged by Amnesty International to be centrally involved in the 2003 Abu Ghraib and 2002 Bagram prisoner abuse cases. Wood is featured in the 2008 Academy award-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side.
Police misconduct is inappropriate conduct and illegal actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Types of misconduct include among others: sexual offences, coerced false confession, intimidation, false arrest, false imprisonment, falsification of evidence, spoliation of evidence, police perjury, witness tampering, police brutality, police corruption, racial profiling, unwarranted surveillance, unwarranted searches, and unwarranted seizure of property.
The San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) is the primary law enforcement agency serving the City of San Antonio, Texas, United States and some surrounding areas. Its headquarters are at South Santa Rosa district. SAPD is one of the largest municipal police departments in Texas.
Police accountability involves holding both individual police officers, as well as law enforcement agencies responsible for effectively delivering basic services of crime control and maintaining order, while treating individuals fairly and within the bounds of law. Police are expected to uphold laws, regarding due process, search and seizure, arrests, discrimination, as well as other laws relating to equal employment, sexual harassment, etc. Holding police accountable is important for maintaining the public's "faith in the system". Research has shown that the public prefers independent review of complaints against law enforcement, rather than relying on police departments to conduct internal investigations. There is a suggestion that such oversight would improve the public's view on the way in which police officers are held accountable.
Being between Scylla and Charybdis is an idiom deriving from Greek mythology, which has been associated with the proverbial advice "to choose the lesser of two evils". Several other idioms, such as "on the horns of a dilemma", "between the devil and the deep blue sea", and "between a rock and a hard place" express similar meanings. The mythical situation also developed a proverbial use in which seeking to choose between equally dangerous extremes is seen as leading inevitably to disaster.
Police brutality is the use of excessive or unnecessary force by personnel affiliated with law enforcement duties when dealing with suspects and civilians.
Noble cause corruption is corruption caused by the adherence to a teleological ethical system, suggesting that people will use unethical or illegal means to attain desirable goals, a result which appears to benefit the greater good. Where traditional corruption is defined by personal gain, noble cause corruption forms when someone is convinced of their righteousness, and will do anything within their powers to achieve the desired result. An example of noble cause corruption is police misconduct "committed in the name of good ends" or neglect of due process through "a moral commitment to make the world a safer place to live." The knowing misconduct by a law enforcement officer or prosecutor with the goal of attaining what the officer believes is a "just" result.
The New York Police Department's Strategic Response Group (SRG) is a unit of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) formed in 2015 for counter-terrorism and the policing of political protests. They maintain a bike squadron and are outfitted with anti-riot gear, rifles, and body armor. The unit has been criticized for its use of excessive force and mass arrests against political demonstrators protected under the First Amendment, disproportionately high numbers of complaints to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, among other things. Activists, the New York City Council, the New York City Department of Investigation, and organizations such as Human Rights Watch and the New York Civil Liberties Union, among others, have called for its regulation or disbandment.
Harry P. Litman is an American lawyer, law professor and political commentator. He is a former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General. He has provided commentary in print and broadcast news and produces the Talking Feds podcast. He has taught in multiple law schools and schools of public policy.
The George Floyd protests were a series of riots and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as reactions to the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed African American man, by city police during an arrest. They spread nationally and internationally. Veteran officer Derek Chauvin was recorded as kneeling on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds; Floyd complained of not being able to breathe, but three other officers looked on and prevented passers-by from intervening. Chauvin and the other three officers involved were later arrested. In April 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. In June 2021, Chauvin was sentenced to 22+1⁄2 years in prison.
On June 1, 2020, amid the George Floyd protests in Washington, D.C., law enforcement officers used tear gas and other riot control tactics to forcefully clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square, creating a path for President Donald Trump and senior administration officials to walk from the White House to St. John's Episcopal Church. Trump held up a Bible and posed for a photo op in front of Ashburton House, which had been damaged by a fire set during protests the night before.
On June 4, 2020, amid the George Floyd protests in New York state, police officers from the Buffalo Police Department pushed 75-year-old Martin Gugino during a confrontation in Buffalo's Niagara Square, causing him to fall to the ground which left him bleeding from the ear. Gugino was seriously injured, sustaining a brain injury, and was still unable to walk nearly two weeks later. He was hospitalized for nearly four weeks.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 was a policing reform bill drafted by Democrats in the United States Congress. The legislation was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on February 24, 2021. The legislation aims to combat police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias in policing.
Local protests over the murder of George Floyd, sometimes called the Minneapolis riots or the Minneapolis uprising, began on May 26, 2020, and within a few days had inspired a global protest movement against police brutality and racial inequality. The initial events were a reaction to a video filmed the day before and circulated widely in the media of police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd struggled to breathe, begged for help, lost consciousness, and died. Public outrage over the content of the video gave way to widespread civil disorder in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and other cities in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area over the five-day period of May 26 to 30 after Floyd's murder.
The dictionary definition of bad apple at Wiktionary| Types of misconduct |
|
|---|---|
| False evidence | |
| Wrongful convictions | |
| Advocacy | |
| Contributing factors | |
| Norms and remedies | |
| Related concepts | |
