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Dc_dux, the feds have an interest only if there is a basis for it in the constitution. I can assure you that state laws in every state prohibit the sort of misconduct we are talking about, so it's not an issue of prohibition, it's an issue of will to enforce -- and in a democracy, the remedy for that is to vote the scoundrels out of office. The feds should step in if: (1) there is a governing federal law, such as the civil rights act, a federal constitutional violation, or other similar basis for the federal government to assert jurisdiction; <i><b>and</i></b> (2) the misconduct can't be fixed at the state level (remember, states control localities, which is why, for instance, a state can take over a failed school district or city government).
Simple "police misconduct" by itself is not a federal issue, even if there is a pattern.
Look, I live in the possibly the worst governed state in the country, with the possible exception of Louisiana. New York State's government is totally, utterly, completely dysfunctional. Yet I stay here; I swallow hard and keep slogging. Why? Because I made a choice, a conscious one. I don't expect the feds to rescue me. I voted for Eliot Spitzer for governor because he made the right noises about Albany needing to be cleaned up. He turned out to be more of the same old bullshit. Why should the feds rescue me? My fellow citizens keep voting in the same crowd of corrupt trough-feeders, and we have to live with the consequences of our folly. If we got unhappy enough we could leave and go to some state with a better government.
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