2666: And how. The extent of corrupt members of the police force and local government is never directly revealed, but it’s heavily implied to include the higher ups and the majority of the beat cops especially Epifanio.
Blore, one of the villain protagonists of And Then There Were None is a former cop, whose crime is fitting up an innocent man, leading to his victim being sentenced to hard labor and dying in prison. Blore is presented as devious and amoral, suggesting this was indicative of his general behavior as a police officer.
Asian Saga: In Noble House, it's mentioned that pretty much the entire HKPD is on the take. The cake, however, goes to the Chief Inspectors who are also members of a criminal triad that controls the vice trade in northern Hong Kong. The officer assigned to investigate is incensed that the higher-ups are taking triad money but isn't really upset that the beat cops do it, since their salaries are so low they can barely support themselves.
The Stockholm police force in the Backstrom novels has its share of Dirty Cops. Evart Bäckström himself, who arranged a new identity for a notorious criminal who wanted to reinvent himself, and who remains amenable to providing little favours in return for a consideration. Even Annika Carlsson arranges a bonus for herself when several million kronor in used notes appears as evidence retrieved from a crime scene. Left alone with money that hasn't been counted yet, she spirits away a hundred thousand or so in high-denomination banknotes. She hides the money in a very secure place. And that's on top of all the little short-cuts and perks that make police life easier.
In Bad Dreams by Kim Newman, the protagonist is a reporter who at the start of the novel is investigating a racist cop, Barry Erskine, who is suspected of being responsible for at least one death in custody. That investigation gets sidelined by the main plot, but Erskine reappears in Newman's next novel Jago, in which he ends up going right off the deep end and getting shot in self-defense by one of his would-be victims.
Spinetinglers: In book #2 (Billy Baker's Dog Won't Stay Buried), one of the cops is part of a religious cult and uses his police powers to block people from leaving town, forcing them to join the church.
Ray Kirschmann in Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series, "the best cop money can buy." In Burglars Can't Be Choosers he comments that the keystone of a decent partner is "reasonableness" (i.e., willingness to take bribes) and complains about a former partner's lack of it.
Ray: They gave me this straight arrow a while back and you couldn't do nothing with him. I mean he even paid for his coffee.
Chocoholic Mysteries: Former sheriff Carl Van Hoosier in Bridal Bash, who had a habit of taking bribes from the summer people (AKA wealthy people with part-time residences in the area) in Warner Pier to look the other way when they were breaking the law. He ultimately had to resign for it sometime after Lee's mother left town.
Lampshaded, downplayed, and justified. Layfon was asked by Naruki to aid in helping catch a group of thieves that were trying to steal data from the city. During the stakeout, Naruki apologizes to Layfon for forcing him to help her when he was already so busy. Layfon states that he doesn't mind helping to which she comments on how she pressured him into helping by using an underhanded method so that he couldn't say no. He insists that it's fine, but she further insists that it isn't on the grounds that elite platoon members like him shouldn't be doing police work as it's beneath them.
After apprehending the thieves, the chief of police state that they're going to sell the chips the thieves had stolen in the process to help the city rather than return them to their original owners since tracking them down would be impossible, considering they were all stolen from unknown Regios. Naruki questions the motives, but since the chief openly stated what they were going to do with the chips, Layfon believes he's being sincere about his actions.
There are several in Dance of the Butterfly, but the two local detectives Alec and Quain share much of that spotlight along with the Interpol agent Duilio.
The Dawnhounds has two flavours of dirty cop: Wajet is tremendously corrupt but is secretly on the side of the light while Varazzo and his crew follow the rules to the letter, even when the rules are horrifying.
Most of the police force in Devil's Cape are corrupt. Dustin Bilbray is openly racist and takes bribes. There's also Warren Sims, although he isn't corrupt by choice.
In the Discworld series, this trope used to be endemic in Ankh-Morkpork's City Watch, but under its current leadership, the force has become much more professional.
The Watch's current Commander, Samuel Vimes, comes down heavily on major abuses such as corruption, but grudgingly lets smaller offenses of the free doughnut/pint/meal variety slide as a sort of Necessarily Evil because they often lead to useful information. He absolutely won't condone Police Brutality, though (however, he might fake it as a form of Perp Sweating), and has a reputation for being absolutely incorruptible, with attempts at bribery being a personal Berserk Button: in The Truth, Mr. Slant, Ankh-Morpork's chief lawyer (and a zombie) remarks that the last person who tried to bribe Vimes "still does not have full use of his fingers."
For Vimes himself, being bribed is not the main problem; rather, he has to fight the temptation to go full Cowboy Cop — he views justice as "protecting the innocent" rather than "obeying the law", but he's also perfectly aware that thinking like that/going outside the law can lead down some very dark paths, and purposefully uses the law as his personal Morality Chain to control his Unstoppable Rage and ensure that he remains The Fettered. When Vimes does let 'the Beast' off the chain, he's proved to be an Implacable Man and Lightning Bruiser capable of killing werewolves with his bare hands. Vimes is quietly terrified of succumbing to 'the Beast,' and the conflict between his 'stay within the law' and 'clean up the world' instincts is key to the plot in Men at Arms, Night Watch, Thud!, and Snuff.
Sergeant Colon and Nobby Nobbs are benign versions of this trope. Colon is the sort who will clamp the wheels of a bunch of horse carts next to a restaurant on trumped-up parking violations, in hopes that its owner will offer him a meal to deal with the problem, and maybe give some useful information while Colon eats. Nobbs is prone to petty theft of anything lying around, but a decent person aside from that — as Vimes notes, Nobby has "a criminal mind, not a criminal soul." These attitudes wouldn't be tolerated in the modern Watch, but Vimes keeps Colon and Nobbs on for a number of reasons: their experience and knowledge of the city and ability to read it is second only to that of Vimes himself (and possibly Carrot), their use as teachers for young Watchmen, their long service and old friendship, and above all, a shared inexplicable knack for stumbling across vital and useful information.
The City Watch Diary 1999 has a transcript of a speech by Vimes which gives his definition of a Dirty Cop, and why Colon is on the right side of the line:
I know all the little tricks, all the cafés that’ll feed a copper for free, the places to stand out of the wind, the cushy jobs, the pubs where the uniform will get you a buckshee pint; I know the grease on which this city runs and I know the difference. I also know dishonesty when I see it and if I find you taking bribes your feet will touch the ground because I will cut you off at the knees, believe me.
Between Night Watch and Men at Arms, the Day Watch under "Mayonnaise" Quirke was just another city gang. The Night Watch wasn't even competent enough for that — and Vimes notes in Night Watch that even if he stayed in the past and whipped the Night Watch into shape, they'd just be another gang under the corrupt Patrician of the time.
In Night Watch, it is stated that a major part of the reason why "Sammies" — modern, Vimes-trained Ankh-Morpork Watchmen — have such a good reputation is that they don't take bribes much, and the ones they do take are never larger than the occasional free pint and/or doughnut, which (as noted above) even Vimes thinks of as part of the grease that keeps the wheels of justice turning.
In the first book of The Echo Case Files series, the local police department is corrupt from top to bottom. Those cops not taking backhanders from organised crime are involved with a terrorist group.
Eddie LaCrosse: In Burn Me Deadly, Gary Bunson, Neceda's law officer, is quite open to bribes. However, he's not particularly evil about it — it's driven more by laziness and self-preservation than active greed, and while he's seldom useful, he doesn't do any harm. It briefly looks like he might break this pattern by hanging someone whom Eddie thinks is innocent (or at least, coerced), but it turns out that Gary didn't actually have that one wrong. Eddie still thinks Gary didn't deserve a medal for it, though:
Eddie: Gary, the killer came to you and confessed. You basically did nothing. Gary: Yes, and I did it with alacrity and tact. I have a parchment option that says so. Eddie: And your conscience is okay with this? Gary:[trying not to laugh] Eddie, I sold my conscience for a night with a trail whore when I was fifteen. Haven't seen it since, and wouldn't know what to do with it if it turned up. [admires medal] I also got a raise.
Ferals Series: Cynthia Davenport uses her position as police commissioner to arrest all of the ferals as part of her Evil Plan.
In Heavy Object, an entire unit of Black Uniforms support a drug war against a foreign nation. As they conduct checks for contraband, the unit can give a clean report on the drug shipments and prevent any additional searches, even being bribed to ignore a human trafficking ring. When one shipment is discovered by ordinary soldiers, the unit plans to incinerate them along with the evidence.
In The Howling (1977), Karyn starts to suspect Sheriff Anton Gadak is corrupt or worse, covering up the mysterious disappearances in Drago. Notably, he insists a coyote killed Karyn’s dog despite Karyn’s doubts, and he claims that Neal and Pam’s van was abandoned for nearly a week and fails to make enquiries about their well-being, even though Karyn saw the couple just a day before and knew they were going back to town for their van. Anton is adamant the van has no number plates and was probably stolen and dumped by joyriders. When Karyn is told Inez died in a supposed car crash, Karyn is unsurprised to hear the sheriff was first on the scene and rightly suspects a cover-up. It's later confirmed Anton is a werewolf and has been using his position to protect Drago’s secret.
Cray from The Hunger Games turns a blind eye to where are the activities in the Hob (District 12's black market) because it's his source of booze, and to Katniss and Gale's poaching because they are his source for wild turkey.
In Illuminatus!, most cops are not angels and will accept at least minor inducements to look the other way. Chicago copper Otto Waterhouse accepts a ten-dollar bribe, discreetly wrapped around a sample of the product, to allow the Eris Tomato Juice Company to carry on giving out free samples without a license, immediately outside the convention of a Religious Right Moral Guardian group. When he throws the empty cardboard cup away, the ten-note is gone. But the effects of the mind-altering drug he has just taken will linger on...
In the Left Behind book The Remnant, Tsion Ben-Judah reports the Global Community Peacekeepers have resorted to extortion from the people they're supposed to protect during the latter half of the Tribulation.
Moon Cops on the Moon: Every cop on the moon to the point that the police don't get measured by whether they're dirty or not but just how dirty they are. Neal is actually listed as relatively honest by the fact he only takes bribes to ignore what he doesn't think should be illegal in the first place.
Murder for the Modern Girl: Chicago's police force are willing to look the other way when it comes to Herman Coward's illegal activities as he bribes them.
One of the people after James Bond's head in Nobody Lives for Ever is an older corrupted German policeman Heinrich "Der Haken" Osten, who is rumoured to have been involved with the Nazis back in the forties.
Margin Play: Some members of the Seattle Police Department are bent and are being paid off by the cabal of bad guys. Amber doesn't know how many or which ones, so she doesn't dare go to the police about the beating she received for investigating the real-estate scam.
Several members of the Behaim Circle in Pact fill this role with a supernatural twist-even though they Cannot Tell a Lie, they manipulate other officers against fellow wizards, relying upon the Masquerade to prevent their victims from pulling anything drastic and countering any subtler attempts.
Subverted with Officer Shrift from The Phantom Tollbooth. Sure, he arrests people for no reason and throws them in jail, but he does it as a joke. Unless they really do something bad, they can leave any time they want.
In the Beka Cooper trilogy of the Tortall Universe, the city guard/police force has a much looser definition of "dirty" than the modern one. They have an established protocol for collecting bribes ("happy bags") from local businesses and will collect personal bribes frequently, but you're only supposed to do it for minor crimes rather than things like murder. Police Brutality is also acceptable (although it's supposed to be limited to the times that you're really sure it will help your inquiries) and Cage Dogs engage in Cold-Blooded Torture during interrogations.
In A Song of Ice and Fire Janos Slynt is the captain of the city watch in King's Landing and thoroughly corrupt. He and his men have loyalty only to those who pay them and are perfectly willing to serve as thugs for court intrigue. When Slynt is given a lordship, he recommends his subordinate Allar Deem as his replacement, saying that the man has absolutely no scruples. Tyrion has Allar Deem killed and instead promotes the honest Ser Jacelyn Bywater.
It's probably fair to say that the majority of James Ellroy's characters are either dirty cops (or feds) or former dirty cops. Dudley Smith from L.A. Confidential is just the one most people know. Edmund Exley was also far more compromised in the book than in the film. Although the books (where Dudley Smith is around until the end of White Jazz does subvert this a bit by having Exley make the bringing down of Dudley Smith his first priority as Chief of Detectives (although this is more because of personal dislike than anything professional). By the end of White Jazz, Exley is compromised, essentially having become the counter-Smith within the department. The entirety of the action is the protagonist being caught in the power struggle between the criminal empire Smith has built and Exley's own quasi-criminal means to achieving his ambitions. Eventually, Exley drops his hatred for Smith in favor of his political ambition and the protagonist ends the book, decades later, deciding to return to LA to bring both men's sins to the light. The protagonist, Klein, is himself quite the Dirty Cop, but the ultimate point is that his sins pale in comparison to either of theirs.
Michael Connelly's mystery novels often use Dirty Cops as villains. Much of this is likely Truth in Television given Connelly's history as a reporter in LA.
A Clockwork Orange: While Alex is in prison, his treacherous gang member Dim and his former rival Billy Boy put aside their youthful conflicts and join the police force, a perfect job for two brutes. When they cross paths with Alex again, they beat him savagely purely for the sport of it.
Warren Hammond's Juno Mozambe series is set in the future on a planet whose economy has crashed (their main export was a formerly unique wine, but outsiders had managed to clone the native fruit used and now the wine is commonplace), early in the first book - Juno Mozambe and the rest of the police force will shake down criminals for bribes and if they don't pay up, Juno's the enforcer who'll give them a brutal beating. Juno does feel bad about this when he gets an incorruptible partner but he and the force never go completely clean.
Constable McGregor is a sadistic extortionist, moonshiner, and hired gun.
Sheriff South is a decent man who is unhappy about being unable to arrest the gangsters but refuses to even bother trying due to his pessimism about how powerful their friends are (although Flanderization in the sequels makes him consistently useless when facing less untouchable adversaries).
Trueman Bradley: Chief Stokowski from the first book once lost $10,000 at poker and drunkenly accepted a loan from the mobster Benvolio. He paid it off as soon as he could, but Benvolio blackmailed him with the security footage into helping him hide Benvolio's illegal alcohol production. Things escalate, and by the time he's caught he's guilty of vandalism and attempted murder.
Johannes Cabal has a Downplayed example. The titular Necromancer is the terror of the village near his home, where only the local constable can drive him off — which is to say, Johannes pays the constable a second salary to tend to his affairs quietly and keep the villagers away from the Torches and Pitchforks.
Underground: The Chrystal Valley police all know that there's an underground fighting ring in their city, but it makes so much money that they don't care about it, and will even watch fights while on the clock.
Villains Don't Date Heroes!: Night Terror bribes the police union and commissioner for Starlight City to ensure they don't try impeding her crimes too much (aside from a token effort). She's gotten far too powerful for them anyway-this is just softening things up further.
Yeats Is Dead has almost half of all the police men shown under the payroll of Ms. Nestor.
Catwoman: Soulstealer: One of the cops called to her apartment openly steals Selina's money stash after illegally searching the place. It's indicated another white officer quite likely illegally searched a black teen and found the marijuana he was carrying also, or even simply planted it, though Luke insures that the kid will get a good defense lawyer.
In the Star Trek: Discovery novel "Drastic Measures" the presence of Kodos loyalists in the local police becomes a concern when the Governor and Starfleet rescue team are nearly assassinated by a man with a grenade before Commander Lorca stops them. This man had been allowed in by one of the Governor's own guards.
Some concern is also raised in the Star Trek: The Original Series novel "Ex Machina" that some of the Lorini law enforcement was either bought off by or simply loyal to the fanatics seeking to restore the Oracle to power.
Tales of the Bounty Hunters: Boba Fett murdered fellow Journeyman Protector Lenovar on Concord Dawn while going by the name Jaster Meerel. The dead man is described as corrupt and disgracing his uniform, apparently why Fett murdered him. In the Legacy of the Force novel "Revelation" Fett's ex-wife Sintas Vel reveals Fett killed Lenovar for raping her but Fett refused to tell authorities that in order to protect his then wife.
The Thrawn Trilogy: Spaceship thief Niles Ferrier bribes the corrupt Imperial Lieutenant Kosk and his men into attacking a smuggler's meeting on Trojan that Grand Admiral Thrawn ordered be left alone. It doesn't end well for Kosk or his men who are all killed during the attack. Ferrier's colossal screw up causes what Thrawn wanted to prevent, that being the smugglers joining forces to oppose the Empire.
Gesta Danorum: After Starkad has been wounded in a duel, a passer-by asks him how he will reward him if he will patch up his wounds. Starkad, who does not want to accept help from "those in low walks of life", asks him what his social position is, and learns that the man is a bailiff. Upon this revelation Starkad at once showers him with abuse for disregarding his "honourable duties", talking sneeringly about everone, launching wrongful charges against innocents, snooping around in other people's business, and harassing "harmless characters" at every opportunity. The passage not only makes clear that Starkad considers all bailiffs lowlifes, but the fact that the bailiff would only help if promised a reward first also suggests Starkad's accusations are not far from the truth.
The Godfather: Captain McCluskey is less an NYPD cop as he is a glorified assassin and enforcer for a rival mob family, and whose loathsomeness is compounded by his smug arrogance that his rank will protect him, just like it did his father before him. Puzo spends paragraphs explaining the difference, in the eyes of the average cop of the day, between "clean graft" (involving non-violent crime like gambling and prostitution) and "dirty graft" (involving actual violence), with the implication that virtually all of New York's finest are on the take (and it should be added that it is implied that the character doing the describing of the difference is McCluskey, who probably qualifies as an Unreliable Expositornote although even then, his participation in the Corleone affair is very much on the "dirty" side of the line; it's just that McCluskey's ambition and greed gets the better of him). More important, every individual cop named in the book bar one Spear Carrier is either corrupt (Detective Phillips, on the payroll of the Corleones), brutal (Albert Neri) or both (McCluskey).
In Real Mermaids Don't Sell Seashells, Carl Ensel of the Royal Bahamas Police Force turns out to be running a drug ring. He hires people to smuggle large amounts of cough medicine into the country, synthesizes it into a dangerous drug called Grip, and gets local teenagers to deal it.
