QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES
Means "Who Polices the Police?"

From the Houston Chronicle:

Handcuffed trespass suspect was kicked in the chest, jailer says

A Pasadena police officer was charged Friday with official oppression after being accused of roughing up a handcuffed man.

The Pasadena Police Department's internal affairs division began an investigation on officer Jonathan Rayford Strange after an officer at the city's jail reported seeing him push Robert Keane into a wall and then kick him in the chest.

Click here for the rest.

And just because I concentrate too much on police misdeeds in Houston, I figured there's got to be something going on around Baton Rouge, so I took a look and found a little something in about two minutes.

From WAFB-TV:

Deputies Indicted in Inmate's Death

Jones, of Helena, Alabama, was fatally injured in June 2004 during a fist fight with criminal sheriff's deputies. Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard said Jones died from a brain hemorrhage a day after being punched in the right cheek on June 29th.

Click here for the rest.

Two observations. First, this mistreatment of prisoners strikes me as exactly the same kind of behavior going on at US managed prison facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo. Really, the military torture scandals are absolutely no surprise when seen in this light. When American prisoners are treated so harshly, how can anyone doubt that POWs are treated any differently? Second, I was kind of shocked by how quickly I managed to find a local story about cop corruption: this simply adds to my speculation that police culture is totally out of control, and the problem is nation wide. I think I might try to sample some out of town news sites from time to time and see what I come up with. My bet is that I'll find something more often than not on my first try.

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