When I was a kid growing up in a small town, everyone knew that the local RCMP Superintendent was an violent, unstable alcoholic with a nasty habit of smacking around his wife and kids. Nothing was done about it, despite years of tongue-wagging and head-shaking, until he finally destroyed a police cruiser by wrapping it around a tree after passing out drunk at the wheel. Was he stripped of his commission and charged? Was he jailed? Was he even disciplined or fired? No; he was moved to another detachment on the other side of the country.

This was forty-five years ago, folks: It was bad then, and it's bad now. The writer is correct. Until (unless?) the protect-our-own mentality of policing changes, you're just going to keep seeing stories like this. The only difference now is that you're seeing more of them.