In Portland, a total of four PPB officers murdered two mentally ill men in cold blood. They were not prosecuted; the grand jury and PPB internal affairs cleared them.
The family of one of the victims sued and won $2M. I don't clearly recall whether it was a jury verdict or a settlement.
In the other case I don't think there was a lawsuit however the federal government found that the PPB wasn't properly trained to deal with the mentally ill. My own more-recent experience that the PPB is quite good, for example I'd see someone going totally bananas at the Portland Rescue Mission and the cops would show right up, then be completely reasonable, pleasant and polite.
On the other hand, the Santa Cruz Police Department is quite oppressive to the homeless and mentally ill. That led to the Occupy Santa Cruz movement raising quite a lot of Hell, but with the eventual result that things got quite a lot better for the homeless and quite a lot worse for the cops.
edit: s/better/worse/
I hasten to point out that the vast majority of police officers and sheriff's deputies, I expect FBI agents as well, hate bad cops with a passion. The problem is "The Thin Blue Line"; their culture forbids them criticizing their fellow officers.
But they are quick to criticize bad cops in other jurisdictions. Thus when I told a Reno deputy about the OHSU campus cops who beat me up, he got furiously angry, wanted to help me bring them to justice, but I - politely - refused his offer. He has a lot of work to do, I want to take care of that myself
I strongly support organized labor however I do not support what Police Unions commonly do.
For example a month or two ago, some New York City cop shot and killed a man for no apparent reason. Concerned that he might lose his job, he rang up his Union Steward on his phone.
It was four solid minutes before he looked into whether he might render first aid for the guy he had just shot.
It is very commonly the case that when a law enforcement officer commits a really odious crime, his union will come to his aid.
You'd think that wouldn't happen but it does.
So yes I expect that were internal affairs investigations handled as you suggest, it would have a profoundly positive effect. But it would be hard to implement it, as the unions for the bad cops would not agree to it.
Perhaps a way to handle it would be a state ballot proposition. It might be more appealing to the unions were "police force B" chosen totally at random whenever such an investigation was called for.
In Portland, a total of four PPB officers murdered two mentally ill men in cold blood. They were not prosecuted; the grand jury and PPB internal affairs cleared them.
The family of one of the victims sued and won $2M. I don't clearly recall whether it was a jury verdict or a settlement.
In the other case I don't think there was a lawsuit however the federal government found that the PPB wasn't properly trained to deal with the mentally ill. My own more-recent experience that the PPB is quite good, for example I'd see someone going totally bananas at the Portland Rescue Mission and the cops would show right up, then be completely reasonable, pleasant and polite.
On the other hand, the Santa Cruz Police Department is quite oppressive to the homeless and mentally ill. That led to the Occupy Santa Cruz movement raising quite a lot of Hell, but with the eventual result that things got quite a lot better for the homeless and quite a lot worse for the cops.
I hasten to point out that the vast majority of police officers and sheriff's deputies, I expect FBI agents as well, hate bad cops with a passion. The problem is "The Thin Blue Line"; their culture forbids them criticizing their fellow officers.But they are quick to criticize bad cops in other jurisdictions. Thus when I told a Reno deputy about the OHSU campus cops who beat me up, he got furiously angry, wanted to help me bring them to justice, but I - politely - refused his offer. He has a lot of work to do, I want to take care of that myself