In Michael Quinn's "Walking with the Devil," he discusses many of the legal and ethical problems within the police enforcement society. Quinn came from a family with a history of working in law enforcement. Quinn worked for the Minneapolis police department for 24 years. In his book, he provides examples of many true stories that show the code of silence within the police community. Through his stories and examples, it's clear that Quinn feels that the police code of silence is very harmful to the community and the officers themselves. His goal is to encourage current police employees to stray away from the code of silence and do the right thing. .
The code of silence is very powerful. It can guide an officer through his career and make many decisions for him regarding ethical issues. This "code of silence " is known about from the chief of police all the way down through the department rankings. This allows cops to act very unethically and sometimes even criminally without a good cop being able to stop it. Quinn describes the code as "singularly most powerful influence on police behavior in the world, " he continues, "it's as much a part of being a cop as a badge and a gun. " Quinn states, "Asking us to talk about what we have seen or done under cover of the code is like asking a complete stranger about their most intimate fantasy." This shows how police will keep silent to anyone on the outside of their department. They are never specifically told to follow the police code of silence, but it just happens over time, they all just figure it out.
A good police officer reacts to what they perceive the situation is based on experience and abilities. Sometimes their perceptions are valid, but wrong. Quinn discusses the sixth sense. This comes very easy to some officers, almost naturally and not very easy to others. An officer who has a tendency to overthink what they're seeing can result in a delay that ends up being fatal.
