LogFAQs > #977140307

Between the higher-ups (particularly then-Commissioner Gillian Loeb) being in bed with the mafia families and the rank-and-file cops and SWAT being brutal psychos, Batman: Year One shows pretty handily why Batman didn't exactly make a habit out of calling the cops. Then-Lieutenant Jim Gordon and Sarah Essen seem to be the only cops in all of Gotham to not be total bastards, and even then, Gordon ends up cheating on his wife with Essen during the comic.

Even years later, in Gotham Central, Commissioner Gordon has so far only really been able to clean up the Major Crimes Unit; the rest of the GCPD firmly remain bastards, to the point that the FBI listed it as the second-most-corrupt police department in the US (1st place goes to that of Hub City, original home of The Question; Hub City makes Gotham look like Metropolis in just about every possible way, by sheer comparison).