Brett, this is the kind of journalism that got me started with Civil Beat...going after the problems in government that need airing but get glossed over most of the time...not the patently biased political rants that so often fill these pages.

The HPD secrecy reminds me of the way the Catholic Church used to handle clerical abuse...like a cat in a sandbox.  The continued silence and SHOPO's fostering of it makes the "good"cops into enablers for the criminal cops.  When I see a cop today, I can't know if I am dealing with a perp or an enabler.  The guys at the top are too stupid to realize they are doing more harm than good, or they think that covering up covers their own criminal rears as well.

When cops frequently come to a nearby ex-con's house, I never know if they are in business with him or doing police work...in any case, nothing gets done.