Jack E. White

Jack E. White argues in the following viewpoint that cover- ups of wrongdoing within police departments are tolerated by white citizens who do not care what police do so long as they are directed against others and protect their own interests. This “white wall of silence,” he contends, ensures the existence of the “blue wall of silence”—a term used to describe the reluctance of police officers to report misconduct by fellow officers. White maintains that these codes of silence act as bulwarks that prevent those concerned about police brutality from effectively monitoring officer conduct. Only high-profile and unusually brutal attacks, the author asserts, provoke officers to break the code of silence and inform on one another. White writes for Time magazine.

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