History Main / LawmanGoneBad

* In ''Film/{{SWAT}}'', when Gamble's CowboyCop antics get him kicked off the team, he resigns from the force and turns to a life of crime.

At first glance, he is the ReasonableAuthorityFigure or maybe even a GentlemanDetective. However, if you push them too far in just the right place (may or may not be their BerserkButton), he will have a good reason to become an outcast from the police force and perform a FaceHeelTurn. What causes them turn from the law they upheld varies, though [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids disillusionment]], [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal disgruntlement]] or [[EveryManHasHisPrice greed]] will usually be at the root of it.

Due to [[TheReveal the nature]] of the trope, it's often used [[StartOfDarkness as part of the character's backstory]], or as the surpise twist at the end.

* This may be the fate of Inspector Finch at the end of ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', when the Norsefire system is collapsing. See also under film.

* Sheriff Halliday becomes this at the end of ''ComicBook/{{Hitman}} Annual'' #1, when he tries to take possession of AMacGuffinFullOfMoney for himself.

* In the western ''Film/ThereWasACrookedMan'', a new warden (Henry Fonda) at an Arizona prison tries to institute reforms, but a ManipulativeBastard inmate (Kirk Douglas) uses this to stage a mass escape. The warden pursues the inmate, and the inmate meets a KarmicDeath while retrieving the loot from one of his robberies. The warden returns with the inmate's body and the loot to the prison, but realizes that a new warden has been appointed in the meantime. Disgraced and out of a job, he sends the horse with the body toward the prison while he and the money ride off to start a new life.

* In ''Film/MinorityReport'', the trope is subverted. For a while, it seems as if John Anderton will become a murderer, since he's already abusing illegal drugs to cope with the death of his son. In fact, it's his boss, Lamar Burgess, who has been committing murders to validate the pre-crime system.

* In ''Film/HardRain'', Randy Quaid's character Sheriff Mike Collig does this. Being forced to stay behind and guard an empty flooded-out town from looters, a town who's citizens just ''voted you out of office'' was apparently the straw that broke the camel's back.

* Sargent Haig of ''Literature/TheMentalState'' starts out as a {{Jerkass}} who looks down on the prisoners he is guarding and regards them as scum. Then, when the prison starts to adopt more liberal policies and the inmates are granted more freedom, he becomes even more sadistic and retaliates by beating one of the frailer prisoners up for no good reason. He gets worse after he is falsely accused of dealing in drugs and incarcerated in the same prison. He even joins up with a criminal gang just so that he can get revenge on the one responsible for framing him.
* Commissioner Gauche in ''Literature/MurderOnTheLeviathan'' spends about 9/10ths of the novel dedicated to capturing a genuinely dangerous and nasty killer (albeit without that much competence). Then, when it transpires that the motive for the murder involved a treasure map which would lead to more money then Gauche would make on a policeman's salary in ten lifetimes, he promptly beats the captured murderer to death trying to find out where the map was. Unfortunately for him, the man he killed was only an accomplice, and the actual killer makes Guache the next victim.

** Max Payne is a NYPD detective in the first two games, but is forced by circumstances (both times involving him being framed for murder of another officer) to go on a one-man crusade against the local mobs both times.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Dorner_shootings_and_manhunt Christopher Dorner]] was a textbook real-life example of this trope. His story, told in an 11,000-word manifesto he originally posted to Facebook, was that he grew disillusioned with his job as an officer in the UsefulNotes/LosAngeles Police Department over the systemic racism and PoliceBrutality he encountered, and that he was fired for trying to blow the whistle on the use of excessive force. His colleagues dispute his claims, arguing that he was a LooseCannon who never should've been allowed on the force in the first place. In any event, Dorner was a man who [[BerserkButton did not respond well]] to challenges to his personal integrity, leading him to go on a killing spree across southern California in 2013 that saw him kill four people and injure three others (all of them police officers or relatives of such) before dying in an extended siege at a cabin at Big Bear Lake.

* ''Film/{{Speed}}'': Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) was a former member of the Atlanta PD bomb squad, who turned MadBomber after [[spoiler:being forcibly retired, due to an accident which injured his right hand. He couldn't continue on the force, but wasn't disabled enough to qualify for collecting his pension]]. Howard did not take it well.

* Two of Stuart Gibbs ‘’Literature/FunJungle’’ novels feature this. [[spoiler: The first is Chief of Security Buck, who upon stumbling across a smuggling ring, blackmails his way into it and is willing to kill to cover it up. The second is Athmani, a South African game warden brought in to the park as a consultant, who after years of combatting murderous Rhino poachers for a pittance, cracks when offered an opportunity to steal rhino horns worth hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars without killing any of them, even though just the act of putting those horns on the market would feed the demand for more poaching]].
* Albert Neri in ''Literature/TheGodfather'' was fired fomrom the police force for killing an unarmed suspect due to his overzealous nature, causing him to fall in with organized crime.

Related to DirtyCop and CowboyCop. The companion trope where someone who was once in the military and has turned to crime is FromCamouflageToCriminal.

''Anime/BlackLagoon'' 's Mr. Chang didn't just go bad, he became a Triad ''boss''.

Anime/Black Lagoon's Mr. Chang didn't just go bad, he became a Triad ''boss''.

[[Anime & Manga]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Not always this obvious]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/when_judges_go_bad.jpg]]

* Albert Neri in ''Literature/TheGodfather''.

* Two of Stuart Gibbs ‘’ Funjungle’’ novels feature this. [[spoiler: The first is Chief of Security Buck, who upon stumbling across a smuggling ring, blackmails his way into it and is willing to kill to cover it up. The second is Athmani, a South African game warden brought in to the park as a consultant, who after years of combatting murderous Rhino poachers for a pittance, cracks when offered an opportunity to steal rhino horns worth hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars without killing any of them, even though just the act of putting those horns on the market would feed the demand for more poaching]].

* Two of Stuart Gibbs ‘’ Funjungle’’ novels feature this. [[spoiler: The first is Chief of security Buck , upon stumbling across a smuggling ring, blackmails his way into it and is willing to kill to cover it up. The second is Athmani, a South African game warden brought in to the park as a consultant, who after years of combatting murderous Rhino poachers for a pittance, cracks when offered an opportunity to steal rhino horns worth hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars without killing any of them, even though just the act of putting those horns on the market would feed the demand for more poaching]].

* Two of Stuart Gibbs ‘’ Funjungle’’ novels feature this. {{spoiler: The first is Chief of security Buck , upon stumbling across a smuggling ring, blackmails his way into it and is willing to kill to cover it up. The second is Athmani, a South African game warden brought in to the park as a consultant, who after years of combatting murderous Rhino poachers for a pittance, cracks when offered an opportunity to steal rhino horns worth hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars without killing any of them, even though just the act of putting those horns on the market would feed the demand for more poaching]].

!'''Examples'''

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

-->'''Jack''': (over phone) "Why didn't you just come after me?"
-->'''Payne''': (scoffs) "You?! This isn't about you, [[ItsAllAboutMe this is about ME!!]] [[MoneyDearBoy It's about my money!]] This is about money due to ME! Which I WILL collect!"

* Max Rockatansky (of ''Film/MadMax'') started out as a highway cop in a disintegrating dystopian future; he didn't turn bad so much as [[VigilanteMan become a free agent independent of the law]] in order to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the motorcycle gang that murdered his family. [[FromBadToWorse Then, between the end of the first film and the start of the next one, the apocalypse broke out…]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

* Shane is this in ''Series/TheWalkingDead''.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Mot always this obvious]]

** In ''Series/{{CSINY}}'', Mac discovers that [[spoiler:his first partner]] became one of these, having stolen a large amount of money from a crime scene (he was nearing retirement and didn't think he was being paid enough) and [[spoiler:murdered the girlfriend of the guy who has a vendetta against him and Mac (he doesn't know, then doesn't care that Mac wasn't responsible)]].

-->--''Film/{{Dredd}}''

* Harvey Dent / Two-Face from ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. Originally the [[KnightInShiningArmor White Knight of Gotham]], he goes ballistic and insane after some antics by ComicBook/TheJoker. Considering said 'antics' result in, among other consequences, Harvey getting ''half his face burned off'', this is perhaps a bit understandable.

* ''Film/{{Speed}}'': Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) was a former member of the Atlanta PD bomb squad, who turned MadBomber after [[spoiler: being forcibly retired, due to an accident which injured his right hand. He couldn't continue on the force, but wasn't disabled enough to qualify for collecting his pension]]. Howard did not take it well.

* Max Rockatansky (of ''Film/MadMax'') started out as a highway cop in a disintegrating dystopian future; he didn't turn bad so much as become a free agent independent of the law in order to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the motorcycle gang that murdered his family. [[FromBadToWorse Then, between the end of the first film and the start of the next one, the apocalypse broke out…]]

* ''Literature/TheAlloyOfLaw'' has Miles Hundredlives, who was once a good if KnightTemplar-ish lawman but turned to evil when he decided that the political figures he worked for were the real criminals.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{CSI}}'', the team investigates a series of killings related to the murder of a mob boss many years before. It's mentioned that a patrol officer called in the car crash/body but mysteriously vanished along with the ill gotten gains and the possibility of this trope is discussed. [[spoiler:It turns out that the corpse that was thought to be the mob boss's was actually his, killed in order to serve as a decoy.]]
** In ''Series/{{CSINY}}'', Mac discovers that [[spoiler:his first partner]] became one of these, having stolen a large amount of money from a crime scene (he was nearing retirement and didn't think he was being paid enough) and [[spoiler:murdered the girlfriend of the guy who has a vendetta against him and Mac (he doesn't know, then doesn't care Mac wasn't responsible).]]

* In its first and second seasons, ''Series/WhiteCollar'' had Agent Fowler, a seemingly corrupt OPR agent who was after Neal but who turns out to be a case of this: [[spoiler:his wife was killed and then he killed her assassin, leaving himself open to blackmail by the big bad.]]

** In "One Way to Get Off", we learn that [[spoiler:Gregson's former partner D'Amico planted evidence on Wade Crewes because the police couldn't prove his guilt legitimately. When ByTheBookCop Gregson calls her out on this, she's more concerned with the potential impact on her career than the miscarriage of justice.]]
** The villain in "A Giant Gun, Filled With Drugs" is [[spoiler:an undercover DEA agent who tries to make some money on the side by kidnapping the daughter of Holmes' old drug dealer.]]
** The culprit of "Details" is [[spoiler:an ex-girlfriend of Detective Bell's, who was also a beat cop. She had been trying to get promoted into Vice, but after learning that Bell went to Internal Affairs with evidence that her late superior was a DirtyCop on a major drug case they were all working on, her chances were next to nothing, so she took it out on Bell.]]

** Max Payne is a NYPD detective in the first two games but is forced by circumstances (both times involving him being framed for murder of another officer) to go on a one-man crusade against the local mobs both times.

* ''Videogame/ThisIsThePolice'' has Jack Boyt, the protagonist who used to be a competent police chief. Until he's told he has six months until his forced retirement.

* Numerous examples in ''VideoGame/MegaManX'', including every single major villain in the first game. The Maverick Hunters are robot police, and one of the most common backstories in the series is 'former Hunter gone rogue.' The reasons vary - the most common one is infection by the [[TheVirus Maverick Virus]], but there are others, especially in the Maverick Hunter X version of the continuity. [[BigBad Sigma]], depending on the version, went rogue either because of the virus, to force 'evolution' and draw out the true potential of the [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots reploid]] race through constant conflict, or both; Sting Chameleon was forced into going rogue because of hostages; Chill Penguin did it out of boredom after having spent so long assigned to Antarctica, Bubble Crab to get rich; and so on.