Adrian Schoolcraft, an officer with the New York Police Department.
From Gawker.com: NYPD Officer Sent To Psych Ward By Superiors After Reporting Corruption
While working out of the 81st precinct in Brooklyn, [Adrian] Schoolcraft became aware of a pattern of crime victims getting caught up in bureaucratic hurdles that seemed to have purposely been set up to make it hard to report serious crimes. Schoolcraft reported a number of these incidents to investigators. That's where things take a turn for the insane:
In October 2009, Schoolcraft met with NYPD investigators for three hours and detailed more than a dozen cases of crime reports being manipulated in the district. Three weeks after that meeting-which was supposed to have been kept secret from Schoolcraft's superiors-his precinct commander and a deputy chief ordered Schoolcraft to be dragged from his apartment and forced into the Jamaica Hospital psychiatric ward for six days.
He was held for six days in a locked ward. No judge was involved. There was no hearing.
New York Times reports further: For Detained Whistle-Blower, a Hospital Bill, Not an Apology
Dressed only in a gown, he spent three days in the psychiatric emergency room, then another three days in a locked ward among seriously disturbed people, with no phone, clock or mirror.
After his father tracked him down and brought him home, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center sent Adrian Schoolcraft a bill for $7,185.
For more in-depth information, please read eXtina's excellent diary, NYPD Invade Whisteblower Cop's Home, Drag and Detain Him in Hospital Psych Ward For a Week
Needless to say, beyond the disturbing facts of NYPD command manipulation of statistics, my blood runs cold at the thought of what might have happened to Officer Schoolcraft if he did not have the foresight to record these exchanges with his superiors.
What if he wasn't a fellow cop? If they were positive there were no other recordings? Would we have been reading about his "suicide" or blue on blue "accidental" shooting?
There are many good cops out there, dedicated to upholding the law with professionalism and dedication. However, when command adopts or tolerates a culture of corruption, the good ones have no place to turn, lest they be shunned, treated with suspicion, or worse.
Despite the circumstances, Officer Schoolcraft is lucky to be alive.
Further reporting:
Chicago Public Media's "This American Life": ACT TWO. IS THAT A TAPE RECORDER IN YOUR POCKET, OR ARE YOU JUST UNHAPPY TO SEE ME? (link to podcast)
NYTimes: An Officer Had Backup: Secret Tapes
The Village Voice: NYPD's Reporting Problem
The Village Voice: The NYPD Tapes Confirmed The report police hid for nearly two years that corroborates a Voice investigation — and vindicates a whistle-blower the NYPD tried to destroy