It all started out with a kick to the head. True, the suspect was not exactly one to elicit sympathy, but that's not the point. A free society cannot tolerate police acting outside the law to administer physical punishment.

Except Dean Scoville, "Associate Editor of Police Magazine and a retired patrol supervisor and investigator with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department," disagrees with that:

There was a time when post pursuit ass-kickings were obligatory. Cops knew it, suspects knew it, and there are enough old timers on both sides of the fence that will verify the assertion when I say that what this officer did was NOTHING compared to what would have happened in another place and time...

But frankly, I’m nostalgic for the days when the pursued feared the judicial system if for nothing but the inevitable ass-kicking and street justice.

Nostalgia indicates this former supervisor is recalling from experience. I wanted to find out, so I asked the Sheriff's department

and the LA Board of Supervisors.

A little over a week ago I had a cordial telephone chat with an attorney from the Office of Independent Review, a nice enough lady, who let me know the results of her investigation. Essentially, there were no use of force incidents on record to indicate Scoville's recollections of "street justice" were anything more than "puffery" (her word).

Here is the OIR's final resolution:

And the LASD has weighed in:

Here's their report, signed by Sheriff Lee Baca:

The findings--or lack of them--do not surprise me. After all, Mr. Scoville's "nostalgia" is not exactly sworn testimony. I appreciate the OIR and the LASD following up on this. Call me naive, but I believe they did what they could here, and frankly, they did more than I expected.

So what's the point? Just that a free society cannot tolerate "street justice" administered by government employees. Reports of abuse by those in authority are daily occurrences, and we, as citizen overseers of our employees, need to be alert and need to take action when they come to our attention.

What I did here should not be unique. Each of us should feel free to pursue similar inquiries whenever we deem them appropriate. It is a fact of modern life that our government is constantly watching us. It's past time we let them know that we are also watching them.

And we all can participate. Call it true "street justice".

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"Party in the Park" reminder

Members and supporters in Ohio and surrounding areas still have time to get tickets to Ohioans for Concealed Carry's picnic this Saturday.

When: Sat. July 11th
11am to 6pm
Where: Liberty Park
(corner of Liberty Rd. and Home Rd.)
in Powell, Delaware Co., Ohio

$15/each
or
$14/multiple

Click here to order tickets