All we knew as of yesterday was that SPD command staff didn’t get the video of an officer beating a kid until they asked for it on Wednesday. It had been in the hands of lower-rung staff, they said. But when I asked yesterday how long SPD had the tape, Deputy Chief Clark Kimerer said that he didn’t know.

Today I found out.

“We obtained a copy of the video from Seattle police on October 27,” says Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. In other words, police had this video for three weeks (or maybe more).

“The defense attorney showed us the video on October 20,” Donohoe continues. “But the attorney wasn't able to produce a copy. We confirmed that SPD obtained a copy of the video tape and gathered any other video surveillance of the area.”

That SPD was aware of this video and its damning contents—which immediately triggered an investigation of the officer after being viewed by Kimerer—is just another sign that there is a systemic problem in the department.

I know running a police department is a complicated task, guys, but I have to ask: When you find out that officers had this video for three weeks but they didn't hand it over, isn’t that when you fire someone? For sure, investigate the cop who apparently kicked a cooperating suspect, but you fire the person who sat on the video, right?