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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 January 2022
Introduction
James Mangold's Cop Land (1997) is set in New York and New Jersey in the nineteen seventies. A group of corrupt New York Police Department (NYPD) officers, led by Lieutenant Ray Donlan (played by Harvey Keitel), have taken advantage of a loophole in police regulations to establish a community with their families outside the city, in the tiny town of Garrison, New Jersey. They have orchestrated the appointment of a local hero, Freddy Heflin (played by Sylvester Stallone), as sheriff for the dual purpose of keeping the peace and turning a blind eye to the police officers’ links to organised crime. Heflin saved Liz Randone (played Annabella Sciorra) from drowning in his youth, suffering permanent damage to his hearing in consequence of which he was unable to realise his dream of joining the NYPD. He is treated as a second-class citizen by the police residents of Garrison, a hierarchy he does not challenge, apparently content with his comfortable but largely ineffectual role. The plot of the film revolves around Donlan's plan to murder his own nephew, Officer Murray Babitch (played by Michael Rapaport), to cover up two incidents of police misconduct. Donlan is already under investigation by the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) and Heflin is asked for help in building a case against him by Lieutenant Moe Tilden (played by Robert De Niro):
And besides the church traffic and the cats in the trees and all that other … bullshit, okay … there isn't much here for you to do, to keep your mind busy. But I look at you, Sheriff, and I see a man who's waiting for something to do … and, here I am, here I am saying, Sheriff, I got something for you to do. (Cop Land 1997)
Heflin fails to act. He is then approached by Babitch, who is on the run from his colleagues following the murder of another police officer by Donlan. Again, he fails to act. By the time he makes the belated decision to provide Tilden with evidence in order to save Babitch's life, Donlan has already made use of his high-ranking police and municipal associates to close the IAB investigation down. In quick succession, Heflin is abandoned by Tilden, by Liz, by his only friend in the NYPD, and by both of his deputies.
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