> I'm not sure what the solution is, but having independent prosecutors for police crimes might be a good start
It would have to be an almost entirely separate career path once you stepped into it. Once you've prosecuted a few cops, I'm sure that will follow you as a prosecutor wherever you go, and good luck hiding it. Gotta either stay in that game or advance to the point you no longer need to work with cops (become a judge I guess)
The problem is if in doing your job you piss off the wrong cops, you too become a target.
I'm a firefighter / paramedic.
Cops have arrested paramedics providing patient care on accident scenes for varying slights.
Cops have come to hospitals where their off-duty drunk buddy runs a red light and t-boned someone else, and demanded nurses do blood draws (without a warrant) of the other party looking for intoxication, and then arrested the nurse for refusing.
All groups that (rightly or wrongly, I'm making no judgment here, just observing) are considered to be "on the same side", are only on that side as long as it is not inconvenient to those cops, then they're as much a target as anyone else.
> Cops have come to hospitals where their off-duty drunk buddy runs a red light and t-boned someone else, and demanded nurses do blood draws (without a warrant) of the other party looking for intoxication, and then arrested the nurse for refusing.
It should be noted that the cop claimed he did nothing wrong and sued for wrongful termination for $1.5M, and the police union, representing all of their officers, supported him.
The Overton window that cops believe exists about acceptable cop behavior is unfathomably out of line with reality. That's the reason why police oppose citizen backed reviews of their conduct. Makes me wonder how many people with similar circumstances but less publicity get swept under the rug.
It would have to be an almost entirely separate career path once you stepped into it. Once you've prosecuted a few cops, I'm sure that will follow you as a prosecutor wherever you go, and good luck hiding it. Gotta either stay in that game or advance to the point you no longer need to work with cops (become a judge I guess)