In case you haven't heard the term before, the thing you're talking about is called Noble Cause Corruption. "Noble cause corruption is a police crime in which

In case you haven't heard the term before, the thing you're talking about is called Noble Cause Corruption. "Noble cause corruption is a police crime in which police officers violate legal or ethical standards in pursuit of what they perceive to be the benefit of society at large." http://essayonnoblecausecorruption.blogspot.com/ http://essayonnoblecausecorruption.blogspot.com/ http://www.patc.com/weeklyarticles/print/noble-cause-corruption.pdf http://www.patc.com/weeklyarticles/print/noble-cause-corrupt... The police/prosecutor/authority figure believes that their immoral behavior is acceptable because they are the "good guy". The disturbing thing (as you point out) is that regular people who read a story like this also become corrupted. "The accused did one bad thing, therefore all the bad things the police did don't count."