solve everything alone, they do think they can make a difference. The noble-cause is the goal that most 
officers have to make the world a better and safer place to live. “I know it sounds corny as hell, but I really 
thought I could help people. I wanted to do some good in the world, you know? That’s what every cop 
answered when asked why he became a police officer. 
2 
Officers sign on and get hired wanting and striving to do the right thing. However, it is a slippery slope 
that the officer continually slides on from the academy, through field training, and on into the deeper parts 
of a police career. 
Slippery-Slope Model of Noble-Cause Corruption 
1. 
“Forget everything you learned in training (school), I’ll show you how we really do it 
out here.”This what an officer often first hears from a TO (training officer). The statement is 
only superficially about the lack of utility of higher education. What it is actually about is loyalty 
and the importance of protecting the local group of officers with whom the officer works. 
2. 
Mama Rosa. It looks like a free meal. This is not to test willingness to graft, but whether an 
officer is going to be loyal to other officers in the squad. It also serves to put officers together 
out of the station house. 
3. 
Loyalty Back-up. Here, an officer is tested to see if he or she will back up other officers. This 
is more involved because officers may have to ‘testify’ (give false testimony), dropsy (remove 
drugs from a suspect during a pat-down and then discover them in plain sight on the ground), 
the shake (similar to dropsy, only conducted during vehicle stops), or stiffing-in a call. These are 
like NC (noble-cause) actions, and may indeed by NC actions, but their purpose is to establish 
loyalty. 
4. 
Routine NC (Noble-Cause) Actions Against Citizens. Magic pencil skills increase 
penalties by shifting the crime upwards. Protect fellow officers with fictitious chargers. 
Construct probable cause. Illegal searches of vulnerable citizens. 
I am the Law. This is the belief that emerges over time, in which officers view what they do as the right 
thing to do. This is the practical outcome of the old adage ‘power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts 
absolutely.’  A police officer does not have absolute power, but he or she has the backing of the legal system 
in almost all circumstances.  Behavior can become violent, as with the Rampart CRASH unit.” 
3 
Therefore, every officer can start out wanting to save the world somehow, but when the real-world job 
of an officer starts to take hold, it is a problematic grasp to release. 
2. Baker, M. (1985). Cops: Their lives in their own words. New York: Pocket Books. 
3. Withrow, B.L., Dailey, J.D., & Caldero, M.A. (2018). Police ethics: The corruption of noble cause. New York: Routledge. 
ALISON S. BURKE, DAVID CARTER, BRIAN FEDOREK, TIFFANY MOREY, LORE RUTZ-BURRI, AND SHANELL
SANCHEZ
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