Michael Fanone is The New Frank Serpico

 

Although I do a lot of reading, I rarely buy books especially new ones. Moving three times in the space of three years makes one hesitant to accumulate too much stuff. But one person who has fascinated me over the past couple of years is former police officer Michael Fanone whose life was forever changed by the events of January 6, 2021, which he details in his book Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul co-authored with Reuters journalist John Shiffman.

Fanone was among hundreds of officers who defended the U.S. Capitol from Trump supporting insurrectionists who were trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. Fanone was dragged outside of the Capitol beaten with weapons including a flagpole with a "Blue Lives Matter" banner and tased resulting in a heart attack and traumatic brain injury. 

With his tattoos which augment his blunt plainspokenness and the fact he had once voted for Trump, Fanone became an unlikely spokesman against authoritarianism. All of this made me want to buy his book. I read all 200 plus pages last night.

Before I bought the book, my impression of Fanone is that he is a modern day Frank Serpico. Those of a certain age will remember Frank Serpico as the New York City police officer who exposed police corruption and nearly lost his life for it as dramatized in the 1973 film Serpico starring Al Pacino. 

While Serpico faced the ire of his fellow police officers for exposing the graft they received, Fanone faced resistance from both police management and the police union for speaking out against the insurrection because many police officers support Trump and his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Look what I found when I came to page 202:

I spoke to another officer with executive-level connections who warned me that the MPD (Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia) brass and mayor's office believed that I'd become a divisive figure within the department. Trump supporters inside the force - and there were hundreds of them - were growing louder and bolder in their objections to my public statements. Incredibly, some pro-Trump cops were opposed to prosecuting anyone arrested during the January 6th insurrection for assaulting police officers.

The personal animosity toward me had grown so strong, my friend told me, that some MPD leaders worried that if I returned to street patrol, I might end up like Frank Serpico. The NYPD whistleblower was shot under mysterious circumstances in 1971, and nearly died awaiting a suspiciously delayed response. 

In other words, my friend warned me, I'd become inconvenient

Fanone would retire from the MPD on December 31, 2021 and joined CNN as an on-air contributor and has remained in the public eye earning a Presidential Citizens Medal on the 2nd anniversary of the January 6th attacks for his role in defending the U.S. Capitol while warning us that American democracy remains in danger:

The events of that day felt like a wake-up call for me – and many others – that political violence is real. The worst part is that our elected leaders allow this to happen. And yet, this week people who encouraged and even attended the insurrection are now taking their places as leaders in the new House majority.

There is one other key difference between Serpico and Fanone. After what Serpico endured, he went into exile spending a decade in Switzerland before returning to this country and becoming an activist. Fanone, on the other hand isn't going anywhere because he still needs to the hold the line. The question remains is how many among us will join him.