It’s all too easy to criticise the mainly wealthy and free democracies in which we live.
Here’s a story: a very senior police officer has a private dispute over £600, abuses his authority, assaults the person, and then tries to cover it up.
Police officer is arrested, charged, convicted and imprisoned for a substantial period.
Would that happen in Russia, large parts of Africa, Asia or Latin America?
I love Justice! Those guys tear it up!
You forgot the United States, in which it would usually not. The person on the other end of the dispute must have had (better) connections… 
I was going to say something along these lines, but not being from the US I didn’t feel in a position to comment. I think it’s quite a widely-held opinion in the international community that a lot of corruption and injustice goes on in police forces across the US. I’m sure most are honest and hard working though.
That said, it happens a lot over here too, which I think is why this story is particularly newsworthy… 
OK, well here’s a local one from within the United States.
Man gets beat up by police. Man sues police for the beating, claiming unreasonable use of force. Police somehow lose the video of the events. Judge sanctions police for losing the evidence, directing a ruling that there was unreasonable use of force.
http://www.missoulian.com/news/local/article_94930e40-ba0d-11de-9fcf-001cc4c03286.html
So, does that show that our justice system is corrupt, or that it works? 
This guy has been in the news so much over the years. He’s been investigated on many occasions for various things and always “got away with it”/“been shown to be innocent” depending on what you believe.
He’s either a very bad apple or has upset enough people (whilst being a good guy) to end up being hunted down.
I suppose we can only wait for him to be released from prison to make a career in politics 
And Mike, you should know “thar ain’t no justice, thar’s just us!”
Hmm… Well I guess there’s no smoke without fire, as the old saying goes.
Police corruption…
This topic really hits home for me. Over 20 years ago I was going to college in Tampa, Florida, and ran into a corrupt sheriff’s officer at the wrong place and the wrong time. It’s a long story, so I’ll just try and make it more concise. When I finally ended up making it to college again 15 years later, I wrote my thesis for the Honors program about the whole event.
There was no video taken of the incident, and in the end I sustained a broken wrist, two knocked-out front teeth, and internal bleeding. The officer easily protected himself by alleging that I committed battery on him. It was his word against mine, and as an 18 year old with no source of big money for attorney’s fees, I was facing a possible five years in prison.
Because of that event, I withdrew from college and quit both of my jobs, moved back to Fort Myers, FL and tried to find an attorney that would take my case pro bono. Easier said than done. I ended up back in Tampa a month later, still trying to find legal representation, and due to my paranoia from the recent beating I had suffered, I took off in my car when a sheriff’s officer tried to pull me over for a routine stop (my car was the only one leaving the parking lot of a call he was responding to). If I would of just pulled over, nothing further would have happened, but hindsight is 20/20, and I was paranoid, so I took off. The chase ended after I went through six roadblocks and totalled two sheriff’s cars. It was like the “Blues Brothers” chase scene, and now I was really facing some charges.
So as it turned out, I was sentenced to 5 years in prison (as an adult) followed by 15 years of probation. I made the best out of a bad situation, and became a: certified tutor, certified welder, Al-Anon board member, Jaycee’s board member, and Toys for Tots coordinator, all while in prison. I wish it never would have happened, but it did make me a stronger person.
I just hope the officer that instigated all of this didn’t go on to potentially ruin anyone elses life.
To sum up the event, I wrote a short poem called Strive. It was written when I was 18, locked-up in a twelve-man cell with twenty-four people in it. I wrote it on toilet paper with a pencil that I sharpened with my thumbnail.
Strive
I’m trapped in a cell where I inevitably face,
ten years in prison for a crazy car chase.
I could never have imagined such an incredible waste,
nor pictured myself taking a taste.
The people trapped here are full of emotion,
but it’s mainly the type that brings only revulsion.
There’s fear and there’s anger, jealousy, and hate,
talk of lost love, broken families, all blamed on fate.
It’s sad that so many consider their plight,
as just one more reason to stray from the light.
They rape and they steal, they kill and they fight,
they don’t seem to realize what they do isn’t right.
For now I sit here, listen and wait,
until my name is called and I am led to the gate.
Hopefully for me, it is still not too late,
to strive and work hard, and become something great.
Wow… that’s all messed up! Sorry you’ve had to go through all that.
It sounds like this first incident is what caused the later incident. As such, I’m interested in learning from that.
If you feel like going into more detail, I’m all ears (eyes).
Thanks for the support. It’s hard to describe the helpless feeling you get when you are faced with a major injustice. I try to just tell myself that worse things have happened to much better people, and unfortunately continue to happen. I guess it is always a good idea to compare yourself to someone less fortunate, but there is still a resonating resentment towards the officer who set the whole ball in motion. I forgave him a long time ago, but my life is still sometimes impacted by the event.
There is a stigma associated with being an “ex convict”, whether there were extenuating circumstances or not. I have been battling against this stigma and the barriers that it puts in front of me since I was 18 years old. When I went back to college at the age of 32 I had to get permission from the Dean just to enroll. When I graduated cum laude with my Bachelors I had to get permission from the Dean again to pursue my Masters. It is no wonder that recidivism is such a major problem in the US prison system. As I mentioned earlier, I did a 15 year period of probation after my prison sentence, so I had to disclose to any potential employer that I was on probation. That tends to make it difficult to gain meaningful employment. Luckily I was fairly eloquent, and made a good impression, and was able to do pretty well. I became a mortgage broker before I went to college, and had to hire an attorney to obtain my license because the Department of Banking and Finance tried to say that my “crime” involved moral turpitude and denied my license. In the end I prevailed, and eventually ran my own mortgage broker business.
Sorry, I don’t mean to just run on, but writing about this is rather cathartic.
Just for fun, here is another poem, meant to be humorous…
Paul the Prison Roach
I’d like to tell you about an event,
that changed my life to a certain extent.
It’s about a roach that came and went,
I think he got in through the air vent.
You see I’m locked-up in a cell,
where unfortunately I am forced to dwell.
Sometimes it seems like living hell,
but I stay cool, and soon I gel.
I don’t know why he answered my call,
but soon he came walking down the long hall.
I’ve really got to hand it to Paul,
he scaled that wall in no time at all.
There he was, he’s reached the ceiling,
he crossed it quite quickly although it was peeling.
I was overcome with an incredible feeling,
this was no ordinary roach with which I was dealing.
Now he stood right overhead,
he lost his footing and dropped on my bed.
Then he looked in my eyes and softly said,
“Make a false move, and you’re dead!”
Well what he had said made me quite sick,
so I cocked-back a finger to give him a flick,
but I was too slow and he was too quick,
and he latched on my leg just like a tick.
I screamed in pain as Paul chewed and bit,
but I knew that I just couldn’t quit.
So I took out a match, which I immediately lit,
and as I touched it to Paul, he popped like a zit.
A sad story. I was once in custody for about 3 hours and that was more than enough for me. Your story is unthinkable, and you have done well to come through it so positively.
You roach poem reminds me a little of Cyril Tawney’s “Stanley the Rat”. I can’t find the lyrics on Google. I’ll see what I can do later.
The Rhino story rings a bell for me: I was Ill fated enough to cross the path of a perfectly honest mountie when I was 20. He was even polite but so stiff that he could not imagine I was innocent. I ended up with 15 days in jail until a judge had enough intuition to get the right feeling: since he could not prove the cop got it wrong he got me out of jail and deported me out of the country. (thanks judge!)
I have never been back to Canada ever since 
So corrupt officers are plainly bad but honest martinets are not very useful either.