I find articles about police behaving badly especially disturbing.
And this, by Dan Frosch in the New York Times, is ultra-troubling because it could happen to any driver:
There was a time not so long ago when Lisa Steed’s stock as a corporal in the Utah Highway Patrol was soaring.
Passionate about police work, with a wide smile and a notable number of driving-under-the influence arrests to show for her diligence, Corporal Steed was named trooper of the year by her superiors in 2007…
In November, however, the once promising officer was fired amid a haze of misconduct allegations.
….a lawsuit claims she falsified dozens of those arrests during her 10-year career.
According to the suit…Ms. Steed made a career of pulling over drivers who she claimed were driving drunk or under the influence.
There was only one problem. Some of the drivers Ms. Steed arrested had not been drinking…according to the lawsuit, brought by a group of Utah lawyers on behalf of two plaintiffs.
If you are a driver, reading what Steed did should make you shiver. No controls, no supervision, and you’re guilty just because she said so. Kafka.