Weekend Buff
Training Day (2001)
Unfortunately, the history of policing is filled with corruption and misdeeds. As the job has become more professional, instances of corruption have been dramatically reduced, but it is a tendency that police brass must remain ever vigilant to prevent. Misconduct has gone from systemic within some agencies, to small groups of rogue officers, to today’s acts of corruption which are usually one or two bad cops who have violated their oath of office. The landscape has improved dramatically, but occasionally we still get a headline that makes cops shake their head and ask, “How did that happen?” Almost every cop today looks at the few bad cops with disgust and anger. That’s a far cry from the bad old days when entire departments, including top brass, were riddled with corruption.
One of the biggest drivers for corruption is the feeling of futility that many cops suffer from, particularly when they are not supported by politicians and the justice system. Keep disparaging cops and discrediting the work that they do and some turn to misconduct to fight the system that has maligned them.
The movie Training Day (2001) is Hollywood’s outsized take on LAPD corruption as the Rampart Scandal broke. The film was certainly over the top but was inspired by the LAPD’s Rampart Division CRASH Unit misconduct.
The Rampart Scandal story broke in 1998 when Officer Rafael Perez of the CRASH unit began cooperating with Internal Affairs and prosecutors to turn in corrupt members of the LAPD Rampart Division’s CRASH unit. Unlike cops like Frank Serpico, Perez was no ideologue intent on righting wrongs within the LAPD. He was caught stealing cocaine from a LAPD evidence room and agreed to cooperate in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Perez’s allegations tore through the LAPD, leading to allegations of misconduct against 70 LAPD cops and ended the career of Chief Bernard Parks. At the end of the investigation only 8 cops were arrested, and 58 faced internal charges. William Bratton was brought on as Chief of the LAPD to clean up the mess in the wake of the scandal.
The corruption that plagued LAPD CRASH Units was allowed to fester as crime in the City of Angels grew out of control in the early 90’s with homicides passing 1,000 a year. The crack-fueled crime wave seemed uncontrollable and LAPD brass put anti-corruption safeguards on the back burner in exchange for the results being obtained by CRASH cops. That is always a recipe for disaster.
The Training Day version portrays fictitious Detective Alonzo Harris, an insanely corrupt LAPD narcotics investigator. He is charged with evaluating Officer Jake Hoyt who is a candidate for the narcotics team. Hoyt is desperate to fit into the narco unit and follows Harris’s lead. A bad decision, as Harris immediately begins leading Hoyt down the road to ruin. The day starts with Harris forcing Hoyt to smoke PCP-laced marijuana and gets worse from there. Blatant theft, fake search warrants, home invasions, drug deals, and even murder follow in an eye-opening day for the wide-eyed rookie.
The actions of Harris and his fellow officers leave viewers on the edge of their seats, wondering how much worse the day could get. And they aren’t disappointed. Harris and his young protégé wind through their day of malfeasance seemingly trying to violate every law in the California penal code. Harris’s control over his life is rapidly coming apart and disaster looms around every corner. Hoyt finds himself involved in all of it.
The movie has an all-star cast, with Denzel Washington giving a top-notch performance as the Rafael Perez-inspired Detective Alonzo Harris. Washington won the Oscar for best actor for his portrayal. Ethan Hawke was nominated for best supporting actor for his role as Officer Jake Hoyt. Supporting actors include Scott Glenn as drug dealer “Roger”, Tom Berringer as ADA Stan Gursky, Cliff Curtis as gangster “Smiley”, Eva Mendez as Harris’s girlfriend, Sara, and Raymond Barry as LAPD Captain Lou Jacobs. Even Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, and singer Macy Gray get cameos in the film.
The film portrays cops at their worst, but it is entertaining nonetheless. The audience is left wondering if this could actually ever happen, but unfortunately the film is an amalgamation of acts of corruption that have occurred at one point or another.
Training Day is two hours of pure corruption and violence. Detective Harris is initially seen as a corrupt cop in complete control of the streets, but slowly the audience realizes that he has put himself on the road to self-destruction – just like most corrupt cops. What initially appears to be a film glorifying police misconduct turns to a tragedy and a lesson for those who think they can get away with such behavior.
You can catch Training Day on Amazon Prime Video for the usual $4. Enjoy this action-packed portrayal of corruption and remain hopeful that the bad old days of police misconduct remain where they belong - in the rear-view mirror.
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Bit of trivia for the group. The plate on Alonzo's uc ride, seen several times throughout the film, is ORP 967. That's a reference to Officer Rafael Pérez ("ORP") who was born in 1967 (967).