The standard line from police departments is that they “vigorously investigate every allegation of police misconduct.” That is something we want to hear and believe, but it is not always the case.

Can you imagine a friend or relative getting beaten up and pistol whipped for no good reason by an off-duty cop and then seeing the victim prosecuted for crimes? Can you imagine a police department where the honest officers are harassed into supporting cops who break the law? Well those are the basic findings of a federal judge in Kansas City. A DEA agent, in a fit of road rage, pulls over one Barron Bowling, and proceeds to beat him up. When other cops arrive on the scene, the cover-up begins–they omit witness statements from persons who contradict the account of the DEA agent. And Detective Max Seifert gets harassed by his peers for not playing along with the fabricated cover story.

The bad apples within the department move up while the honest detectives are hounded out of the organization. Read the whole sordid story here.