http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/10/31-5A few days back, two New York City police officers were indicted for fixing tickets for their friends, family members and political acquaintances. Sad to say, the criminal allegations were nothing particularly noteworthy.
What was shocking, at least to me, was something else: the large and boisterous group of police officers that showed up to “support” their comrades at their arraignment.
The purposes of the assembled officers seem to have been rather clear.
They wanted to a) demonstrate their outrage at the fact that their brothers in blue were being asked to answer to the law and b) make the judge and prosecutors think twice about treating them in the same way they would, say, treat a sixteen year old black kid pulled in for suspicion of robbery.
More at the link --