New Data Reveals 16,000 American Cops Have Been Arrested Over the Past 16 Years

Scores of American police officers are ending up on the wrong side of the law they swore to uphold as a world exclusive National Enquirer investigation found that a staggering 16,000 cops were arrested over the past 16 years.

The Enquirer probe of local police — which excluded federal law enforcement — counted a total of 19,405 arrests of 16,000 officers from 2005 to 2020.

That comes to about 1,000 cops busted every year — or nearly three a day, according to The Washington Post.

Even more shocking, sources say the true number is likely far larger, since the Bowling Green State University researchers who compiled the data had to rely on police department–issued press releases or public news accounts.

The researchers also point out that busts are often not publicly revealed by the arresting agency or reported by the media.

In fact, they say an arrested officer is often not even charged and instead is given an opportunity to resign.

Still, police advocates like Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police officers’ union, emphasize the number of criminal cops isn’t high when you consider there are approximately 500,000 local police officers in the U.S.

But others, like Philip M. Stinson, a lawyer who oversaw the Bowling Green study, say the high number of officers reveals the size of the problem.

“Police crimes are not uncommon,” Stinson insists. “Our data directly contradicts some of the prevailing assumptions and the proposition that only a small group of rotten apples perpetrate the vast majority of police crime.”

And the wide spectrum of crimes committed by bad cops is frightening.

On Nov. 13, a Ruleville, Miss., cop was hit with extortion charges for allegedly shaking down an undocumented migrant for $2,500.

The same day, a rookie NYPD officer was charged with rape, assault and child endangerment involving a 15-year-old girl. He pleaded not guilty.

Two weeks earlier, 14 former and current Mississippi cops were busted for shaking down drug dealers for protection payoffs. They pleaded not guilty, per USA Today.

One shameless Ventnor City, N.J., officer was suspended and placed on leave after being arrested over the summer for selling an explicit video of a woman in a holding cell on social media, while a former Lawrence, N.H., police captain was charged in late October with brutally abusing a prisoner after a 2023 arrest and then falsifying reports to justify the beatdown! He pleaded not guilty.

Stinson notes that around 60 percent of arrests of police occur while the officer is off-duty, but “a significant portion of these so-called off-duty crimes” involves cops flashing a badge or official weapon, or otherwise [using] their power, authority and the respect afforded to them as a means to commit crime.”

Critics also point out that busted cops are often able to beat professional repercussions.

Bowling Green researchers found that of the roughly 6,000 local U.S. officers arrested between 2005 to 2011, only 54 percent lost their jobs as a result.

Stinson attributes this shocking oversight to police departments being unaware their cops have been arrested by other agencies. He says startling data reveals two-thirds of police officer arrests were made by an agency other than the one for which the cop works.

He’s now calling for all departments to conduct routine background checks to find out who they’ve placed under arrest.

Defense attorney and former NYPD cop Peter Gleason — who has represented multiple cops charged with crimes — attributes the staggering number of police perps to a reduction in recruiting standards by police departments.

“Cops have been under a magnifying glass and it’s making it hard for departments to attract the best and brightest,” he says. “For too many officers, it’s not a call to service — it’s just a cash grab!

“Worse yet, it’s just an opportunity to get away with bad behavior.”