In law enforcement in the United States, a gypsy cop, also known as a wandering police officer, is a police officer who frequently transfers between police departments, having a record of misconduct or unsuitable job performance. The term is slang, referencing the stereotypical nomadic lifestyle of the Romani people, often called "Gypsies" by non-Romani. History of the term In use since the 1980s, the phrase entered public parlance in the 2000s after the infamous Tulia drug stings, where itinerant lawman Tom Coleman allegedly set up innocent people, most of them black, as part of a long-term undercover operation. Several other high-profile cases in states include those in Texas and Alaska that involved officers who served with adversity in close to 20 agencies in 15 years or less, yet they continued to evade administrative action as they went from agency to agency, sometimes serving as little as 30 days at one department, despite blatant misconduct and compelling signs of unsuitability to serve as peace officers. More recently in 2016 following a civil rights lawsuit against Ferguson police officer Freddie Boyd, he was found to have had a string of complaints filed against him from over 10 years earlier, including pistol whipping a child and falsifying police reports, from when he worked for the city of St. Louis. Law enforcement agency heads privately refer to the practice of giving a problematic officer a good recommendation in order to get rid of the officer while avoiding litigation, as "pass the trash". The term comes from the Romani people (popularly known as "Gypsies"), who are stereotypically said to always be travelling and thus never get to settle down in a local community, just like how a gypsy cop never gets to stay at any given police department for long. Some dictionaries recommend against using the word gypsy as a modifier with negative connotations, because such use could be considered a slur against the Romani people. Hiring process Some smaller agencies often have an easier and rapid hiring process, involving only a brief interview with the mayor or chief and then a limited background investigation (fingerprint and criminal record checks), drug screen test, and physical exam. Some sheriff's offices, rural and even larger, may bypass some of those steps, as deputies are political appointees, who serve "at the will and pleasure of the elected Sheriff." The hiring process can vary greatly between jurisdictions, due to