America 1987

Chapter 121 Retirement Pension

Seeing this, Prosecutor Luo said, "You and Stans delivered the drinks to the station, and Stans was already drunk at the time."

"If you take the initiative to accuse him, you can reduce the harm to yourself."

Well, it was a persuasive tone, but David's character, Bud, was clearly not that kind of person. "I won't testify against my partner or anyone else."

"He's a disgrace to the police force," the chief, sitting in the middle, said unhappily. "Hand over your gun and badge."

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"You have been suspended."

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"Disband."

Without saying a word, David took out his gun and badge and placed them on the newspaper.

As he left the office, he happened to brush past Pierce, who was next to be questioned.

"We need officers to act as witnesses to mitigate the damage to our department."

Before the other person could finish speaking, Pierce interrupted, "Justice must be served, and of course I am willing to testify in court."

The bureau chief, who had just run into a snag with David, looked at his two colleagues with some disbelief and said with relief, "I'm glad you have this idea; most people wouldn't."

"They thought silence and integrity were the same thing."

Pierce replied with this aloof tone, as if he didn't want to associate with them.

Interestingly, after Pierce finished speaking, the camera immediately focused on Dudley, who was sitting next to him. He had been resting his head on his hand, but upon hearing this, he looked up and subtly sized him up.

Viewers who are unaware of the subsequent plot will definitely not notice it on their first viewing, but those who watch it two or three times and pay close attention will definitely notice the visual language here.

Indeed, every shot in a good movie that stands the test of time has its own intricacies.

"The image of police officers they've built for us," the police chief in the middle said, picking up a newspaper and lamenting to the prosecutor on his left, "is far from it."

"Welcome to Los Angeles, the city of the future," the prosecutor replied humorously.

"May I make a suggestion, sir?" "Go ahead and say it."

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Pierce said with an air of righteousness, "The public will definitely think we will downplay this."

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"No—we won't target people whose retirement pensions are already secure."

"Force them to retire."

The retirement benefits mentioned here refer to the public service retirement benefits provided by the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1950s for senior officers who had served for 20-25 years.

This was a very significant professional benefit for police officers in the United States at the time. During their service, officers received a fixed amount of retirement contribution deducted from their monthly salary, plus financial subsidies from the police department.

After retirement, they can receive a full monthly pension, along with benefits such as free medical care and priority social welfare for public employees. This is the only guarantee that veteran police officers have earned through a lifetime of hard work to "enjoy their retirement." Once this is taken away, it is equivalent to directly destroying all their post-retirement life security.

The so-called "forced retirement" may not sound like much, but it is actually the second most severe punishment after direct dismissal and imprisonment. It is completely different from ordinary normal retirement and belongs to "forced retirement" with a disciplinary stain.

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Punished officers are stripped of most or even all of their retirement pensions and receive only a meager basic living allowance. That's why Stans was so angry later in the movie, to the point that he deliberately knocked the object out of Ed Pierce's hand as they passed each other.

Moreover, Gails hadn't finished speaking: "But some people still need to be severely punished, so we need to thoroughly investigate Chad Stans and Bud White."

"And they must be imprisoned; that makes the message very clear."

""

"This department absolutely cannot tolerate officers who think they are above the law."

Many people here don't understand why he insists on picking on Bard. Is he really the embodiment of impartiality and procedural justice?

It's definitely not that simple. There are at least fifty or a hundred police officers involved in this beating of the criminal. If he were truly the embodiment of procedural justice, he should have suggested firing them all.

But he didn't; he only suggested investigating Stans and Bard.

The former is understandable, since he was the one who instigated the trouble. As for the latter, Pierce's character, Ed, probably thinks this guy is too impulsive and is most likely a troublemaker, while his future goal is to climb up to Dudley's position.

Therefore, he was looking at these colleagues with the mindset of a leader or superior, so it was understandable that he targeted Bud, this troublemaker.

A troublemaker? No leader likes that kind of person.

Aside from Dudley, "Stans was a disgrace to the police force; all his superiors said he was corrupt and lawless, but Bud White was a rare talent."

"White has no brains at all."

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“No, Edmund,” Dudley interjected, defending Bud. “He answered yes to all the questions I asked you.”

"Both the police force and the public need to emulate the police," the chief, sitting in the middle, chimed in. "People who are distinguished by their appearance and upright character can be admired by the public."

Pierce did not speak.

The situation suddenly reversed, with the three leaders initially trying to persuade Pierce to testify. However, Pierce made a suggestion, and the situation quickly turned into the three leaders advising him not to be too aggressive in his testimony and to leave his colleagues some room to maneuver.

The main reason why the two leaders took the initiative to speak up for Bud, played by David, was just as they said.

Bud was known for his strong sense of justice and hatred of evil. He was highly regarded both within the police department and among the general public in Los Angeles, and was a legendary model and good cop.

Such police officers serve as a bellwether within the Los Angeles Police Department, allowing local residents to retain some hope for the fairness of law enforcement.

Of course, there is another reason why the leaders said that: he is very capable, has a high efficiency in handling cases, and has excellent professional skills.

Hmm, it feels a bit like Donnie Yen's character Ma Jun in "Flash Point".

Pierce, who was willing to testify and help the police quell public opinion, would certainly be rewarded by his superiors.

"Sergeant, I'm promoting you to captain, effective immediately."

"Criminal Investigation Team Leader."

Pierce made a request.

"Ed, you're only thirty. Your father was promoted to captain at thirty-three."

“I know, sir,” Pierce explained. “And he was promoted to captain when he was promoted to criminal investigation captain.”

Seeing this, the prosecutor stopped discussing the matter and changed the subject, saying, "Before we have our victory celebration, we should find a potential witness."

""

Actually, this topic wasn't asked of Pierce; it was just a discussion with the two colleagues next to him. Dudley, sitting on the far right, replied, "That's not easy to find. Everyone hates snitches."

This statement also indirectly explains why the director promoted Ed, played by Pierce—it was not only a reward but also a form of compensation.

In a group setting, tattletales are generally not well-liked.

However, it's not entirely incomprehensible that Pierce's character, Ed, would do such a thing.

First of all, he had just been transferred here, and these colleagues were just a bunch of strangers to him. Testifying in court would bring some people to their due punishment, and at least in his view, it didn't count as betrayal.

Secondly, his biggest goal was to climb the corporate ladder, not to get along with his colleagues. To climb the ladder, all he needed to do was get along with his superiors. So when his superiors needed someone to testify in court, he came without hesitation.

So when the leader raises a second question, even if it's not directed at him, he will still help the leader solve the problem.

"Jack Vincent"

Pierce calmly explained, "He hit one of them."

Dudley was somewhat dismissive, "It's still possible to get an old scoundrel like Vincent to admit his own death."

"It's absolutely impossible for him to betray his colleagues."

"Jack is the technical consultant for 'Police Network'," Pierce said confidently. "That's what he makes a living from, so we'll start from there."

Goodness, it's one thing to sell out strangers, but to sell out acquaintances you just met last night without any mercy, Pierce's character really is ruthless in his pursuit of advancement.

"I hope you can observe from the side." The director in the middle was somewhat tempted by what he said and pointed to the side door next to him.

"Call Officer Wensheng in. He's a very clever boy."

"You might reap the benefits," Dudley cautioned as he followed Pierce into the next room, "but can you stand the scornful looks from your colleagues?"

It seems this villain cares about him quite a bit; the villain's father must have a good relationship with Dudley.

However, Pierce himself didn't seem to care much about the concerns his superiors had. "Yes, sir, I can handle it."

They are very independent or even aloof, but they have a strong inner strength. They know what they want and can completely disregard other people's opinions and views in order to achieve their goals.

It seems that in real life, people with this kind of personality are often the ones who ultimately achieve great success.

Dudley glanced at Pierce silently, then said nothing more. "That's settled then."

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