# Internal affairs police **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2019, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internal-affairs-police/838078 "2019-08-02T18:34:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internal-affairs-police/838078/21 "2019-08-04T01:30:54Z")
Internal affairs departments are always stuck in a bit of a limbo. On one hand, obviously cops don’t like them. On the other hand, non-cops don’t like them either, because who would trust the police to internally police themselves? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internal-affairs-police/838078/22 "2019-08-04T02:59:29Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Internal affairs departments are always stuck in a bit of a limbo. On one hand, obviously cops don’t like them. On the other hand, non-cops don’t like them either, because who would trust the police to internally police themselves? Non-cops don’t like them? People may dislike lenient internal affairs groups, but legitimate efforts at oversight on the police are well appreciated. The FBI investigates themselves for shootings, and found their agents faultless in 150 out of 150 investigations. Yeah, people hate those internal affairs cops who are just there to whitewash criminal behavior by police. But legit internal affairs are appreciated by the public. > **[The F.B.I. Deemed Agents Faultless in 150 Shootings (Published 2013)](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/us/in-150-shootings-the-fbi-deemed-agents-faultless.html)** > > Critics say the fact that no agent in the past two decades has been disciplined for deliberately shooting someone raises questions about the bureau’s internal investigations. > [@](#): > > But if such internal investigations are time-tested, their outcomes are also predictable: from 1993 to early 2011, F.B.I. agents fatally shot about 70 “subjects” and wounded about 80 others — and every one of those episodes was deemed justified, according to interviews and internal F.B.I. records obtained by The New York Times through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internal-affairs-police/838078/23 "2019-08-04T11:38:41Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes, but you would beleive the opposite from TV, where even in The Rookie (a great show, btw) gun fights are common. I think he had dropped like half a dozen so far? This is the Dope, with demographics which tend to be a tad above middle school. Adults know better. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internal-affairs-police/838078/24 "2019-08-04T13:19:39Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Yeah, in all my years of watching procedurals, I can’t remember a plot line of someone being forced to go work for IAB. I’ve seen it occasionally. This is the only one I can recall specifically, and it took me a while to place the quote. It’s a line in [Cop Land](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_Land). I think it was Harvey Keitel speaking, but I’m not sure. I haven’t seen the movie since it came out. "You know how they recruit at I.A.D.? They catch you on the take and they tell you you can either do time or join 'em. " [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internal-affairs-police/838078.md?page=1)