Every time Slog posts about an ACLU initiative, I make another donation. Keep 'em coming, Mr. H.

Good stuff!

I wish they would not just limit their request to the past 18 months. Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes, anyone, or even further back?

@3, they aren't asking the feds to limit their investigation to the past 18 months or to the incidents they cite. In fact, they take pains to mention that auditors have recommended training changes since 2004, a year before Barnes was so brutally beaten.

They limit the particular incidents they detail to the last 18 months in order to lend a sense of emergency to spur the feds, to get Jenny excited about opening an investigation that, once open, will be free to dig wherever it wants. So first things first, no?

@4 Hey, its banned user Naive White Seattle Libtard, or whatever its name was.

@5, OK, yeah, that makes sense.

So, uh, Diaz is doing a heckuva job, huh? Hiring from within is really working out.

@8, McGinn's so lucky. Most of us will never have a chance to inspire a federal investigation like that.

Seems like it's high time.

Look, I'm all for police accountability, but have none of you traveled to ANY other major city in America?

As far as cops go, the SPD is generally extremely professional, among the best trained and educated police forces I've ever encountered, and frankly what most other police departments should aspire to.

Seattleites need to rinse the sand out of their urethrae.

If the shit hits the fan, who would you prefer to have around? WSP? KC Sheriff? Fuck no!

Or maybe we could get the OPD? LAPD? NYPD? Maybe NOPD could shoot some random families and burn the bodies to hide the evidence?

I mean, maybe the bar is kinda low compared to other places, but I've never been to another US city with a better police force.

Contempt-of-cop bullshit is not nearly as bad here as in many other places.

There are places where "fuck the police" is absolutely warranted. Seattle seems like one of those places where the slogan should be more: "look, there are still some issues that need to be worked out, we have pretty decent community accountability and oversight, but there are also some fuck-ups to deal with to make things better."

In most places "I'm gonna beat the fucking Mexican piss out of you homie!" is followed with delivery of just such a beating, some good black eyes, a concussion, a tasering or maybe some mace, and then a nice assault-on-cop charge for a violent assault against the officer's fists using the suspect's face.

The only thing that really holds water for me as a serious incident warranting a rigorous outside investigation is the John T. Williams case. I think there you charge that cop and let the chips fall where they may. The evidence I've seen so far looks like that's more than just a bad call, it looks like a manslaughter charge to me.

That was a ramble. Whatever.