Providence Sergeant Hanley found guilty of assault. Is the ‘Blue Wall of Silence’ broken?

We recommend this article: Providence Sergeant Hanley found guilty of assault. Is the ‘Blue Wall of Silence’ broken? It is big news when a judge does not believe a police officer and finds him guilty. In Sergeant Hanley’s case, the judge called his testimony an “utter fabrication” that contradicted the video. When a police officer is found guilty, they rarely spend time in jail. That was true here. This is a small crack in the code of silence. As video evidence becomes more common—through body cameras, witnesses’ cell phone videos, and laws that protect the right to film the police—perhaps we will see more instances when judges or police officers acknowledge that an officer has lied about their misconduct.