[traditional1]

While the inconvienience, embarassment, and personal humiliation of the circumstance you describe are absolutely a matter of fact; the point is that those people responsible are NOT PENALIZED in the Civil Suit...they don't pay out of THEIR pockets...and have no jail time...and have no incentive not to do the same thing next week.

That's the point: why do taxpayers ALWAYS have to foot the bill for incompetence and stupidity of public "servants"?

[GrandEagle]

those people responsible are NOT PENALIZED in the Civil Suit...they don't pay out of THEIR pockets...and have no jail time...and have no incentive not to do the same thing next week.
Again, your point is very well taken. It is just the best we have to work with. These guys should be fired a the least, jailed at best. Having officers personally liable is a mixed bag IMHO, for the reasons mentioned in my last post.
Cordially,

GE

I'm really sorry. It seems that I have set a hostile tone for our discussion; that wan not my intent.
This is sort of a hot button for me. My apology for my unsociable tone.

[Wolfie]

The Taxpayers want a Drug War, they'll have to cover the costs of the occasional screw-up. So it goes.

[JavaTheHutt]

That's the point: why do taxpayers ALWAYS have to foot the bill for incompetence and stupidity of public "servants"?

Because when things go so horribly wrong that a day of reckoning must occur, then gravity tends to reverse, and sh*t rolls UPHILL. The LEOs work for the city, the city works for the taxpayer. The taxpayer is the one who ultimately is responsible. If you have corruption and/or incompetence in your government, then either change it or be willing to suffer the consequences of your inaction. This applies on all levels from local government all the way up the food chain.

[steve-b]

That's the point: why do taxpayers ALWAYS have to foot the bill for incompetence and stupidity of public "servants"?

Ultimately, the answer is "because they failed to elect people who would establish an alternative method of compensating for, and deterrring, these abuses".

I've already posted a few suggestions along those lines. Got any others?