Until the Ferguson outrage at least, a cop who did the wrong thing could expect to face, at maximum, a paid vacation as punishment. Maybe he would be &quot;banished&quot; to a nice cushy desk job upon his return to active duty.<p>Cops protect their own. Thin blue line and all that. But this sort of thing is what enabled sex scandals to run unchecked within the Catholic Church and if we let the constabulary get away with it, the public consequences could be far worse.