The Seven Five  – Film Review by Frank L.

Directed by Tiller Russell
Stars: Michael Dowd, Ken Eurell, Walter Yurkiw

It is the early nineteen eighties and young Michael Dowd is a cop in the seventy fifth precinct in Brooklyn, New York. He is married with a kid. He believes intensely in the credo of the police force that each officer does not tell on another officer or “rat” to use the cop jargon. This creates an omerta which is easy enough to understand as each member of the force, by definition, is dealing during the course of their daily duty with criminals one of whose beliefs is to discredit the police force whenever an opportunity arises. But that does not make it right. Silence by police officers about wrongdoing by brother officers is a dangerous slope. One moment of silence leads to another. The transgressor has a sense of impunity and the problem grows and the wrongdoing within the police force increases.

In this instance shaking down a driver for a minor traffic offence for a couple of hundred dollars in time led O’Dowd and his principal accomplice into protecting drug barons in the seven five precinct. In the end they were not clear in their own minds as to whether they were cops or robbers. In fact in his testimony O’Dowd replies “both”. As a result the precinct was no longer policed in accordance with law. In reality it was barely being policed at all. Needless to say they were making a lot of money on the side.

Russell starts with the original footage of O’Dowd giving testimony to a public enquiry. He is defensive and somewhat delusional. There is then a series of interviews with his principal accomplice, his wife, a principal drug dealer who was a beneficiary and various law enforcement officers. There are also interviews with O’Dowd himself, now in his fifties, who has served a lengthy prison term. What Russell demonstrates is once corruption becomes vibrant within a police force it is extremely difficult to dislodge.

Given the extensive powers that police officers have, it is inevitable that those powers are used, on occasion, improperly. Obviously there is an obligation on fellow police officers to report such behaviour. However that is to “rat”. It does not happen. Silence is the watchword. In Ireland, the problem manifested itself recently in relation to police officers waiving penalty points improperly.

This may seem relatively minor but once the sense of impunity is permitted to develop the crimes will become more grave and the problem will become increasingly difficult to eradicate. That is why the improper waiving of penalty points is an important issue. This fine documentary demonstrates where the impropriety may lead if allowed to go unchecked.