What Alison said (and deBeauxOs, and Dr. Dawg ... )

And while we're on the subject, the inimitable and indispensible Alison over at Creekside sums up the whole police-brutality, civilian-oversight thing as only she can.

Go read it now.

Update: And after that, check out this story from Ottawa from deBeauxOs and the Dawgmeister. I mean, brutal shithead cops and their enablers in so-called oversight roles are bad enough, but in this case, the dumbass not only bit a 15-year-old kid on the shoulder – he broke his hand on the kid's head. This isn't scraping the bottom of the barrel – this is breaking through the bottom to root around in the mud and raccoon shit underneath. It's actually worth quoting the Dawg (emphasis mine):

Not a single component of the system is there to protect and defend the rights of individual citizens when they are casually violated by police officers.