I'd feel much better about this if the damages awarded by the jury were coming directly out of Ms. Whitlatch's own pocket, instead of those of the taxpayers whose trust she abused.

@3 shes broke - she works at Starbucks. isnt it paid by insurance...not sure about the attorney fees tho.

@3 and i wish so too. but if it was just her liable he'd never see any real money.

@6:

Like, how? Just walk into a precinct or Chief O'Toole's office and demand they clean house? Yeah, I'll bet that would be really effective. But seriously, the ONLY way to truly get rid of the "bad apples" at SPD is to dump out the entire barrel and start over. So, if you have a cunning plan to accomplish THAT, please don't keep the rest of us in suspense.

Important reminder: Even had this dude been white, Whitlock would still have violated his civil rights, as generally speaking, owning a golf club is not a crime.

Monetary penalties won't change anything, as has been shown over and over again. She should be treated like any other citizen and thrown in jail for kidnapping. That is how you change police behavior.

@7

The people of Seattle could have not elected a Tim Burgess or an Ed Murray or the others like them, for starters. That right there is a loud and clear message that police reform is not a priority for Seattle's tax payer. Now pay the price, suckers.

Also! Have you heard of my cunning plan? I have a plan, and it is the cunningest.

Stop fucking hiring cops. Stop funding their shit, like useless fucking bunkers and god knows what top secret military surveillance and anti-crowd technology they'll admit next year they forgot to tell us they were buying. Stop writing them checks. We can't fire them anyway but we can let them fade away into retirement and not replace them.

Firing the whole SPD and starting over wouldn't work anyway. Hire the nicest guy in the world and give him the job of cop, and he will start acting like a cop sooner rather than later. It's the job itself that makes cops into cops. That's why police reform always fails. Look around.

Instead, hire non-cops to do 90% of the crap we have cops do: family trouble, drugs, homelessness, traffic regulation. None of these people are crime lords. They're regular people messing up. Regular people who mess up don't need a cop, they need medical help and social services and and life coaching. Or just money to get them through a rough patch. Way cheaper than having cops bust skulls, solving nothing and costing us millions in settlements.

The only cops we need are a SWAT team, on a very, very short leash.

How many corrupt and biased police forces can you name that have actually reformed? You hear success stories, but five or ten years later you find out it was all a false front. The rot happens from the bottom up. It can't be done. So don't try.

The first step is to realize we have an alternative to cops.

Yes. One good thing. @11 cunning indeed and right on.

Small mercies.

@11 well said