I was assigned to a military police unit. I spent most of my time either deployed, so not conducting police duties, or in administrative positions, so not conducting police duties.
One of my duty positions was Antiterrorism Liaison. I was in part responsible for interfacing with local civilian law enforcement agencies to share intelligence on any possible terrorism threats to our base.
For some reason, my unit embedded the AT position with the criminal investigations section. My direct supervisor was an Air Force civilian. His direct supervisor was an Air Force civilian, the Chief of Investigations. As the ranking active duty member, any other active duty members fell under me for supervision.
Our Chief hired an active duty woman not because she was particularly good at her job, but because she had "a nice ass", according to him. I could have reported him to EO, but that would have fucked her out of an enviable assignment, and TBH she really was good at her job. So instead of throwing the flag, I decided to just take her under my wing and watch out for her.
One day she came into the office and told me about a 13 year old girl who was going down the streets and breaking garbage items people had put out for bulk trash pickup. Like TVs that don't work anymore, things like that. My troop wanted to call the parent and set up an interview with the girl. The convo went something like:
Me: But why? Her: Because she's breaking stuff! Me: She's breaking literal trash. Again, why? Her: Because she might escalate to breaking other stuff. Me: But what's the purpose of the interview? Her: To scare her, so she doesn't get worse. Me: That's not your fucking job! Your job is to investigate crimes, not to go around scaring little girls into thinking the police are constantly watching and harassing them! What crime has been committed? Her: Well.... None. Me: Then this conversation is over. You're not going to schedule an interview. You're going to focus on the actual investigations you've already been assigned.
Fifteen minutes later, she comes back into the office.
Her: Chief said doing an interview is a good idea, so I'm going to do an interview. Me: Stand the fuck by.
I went into the Chief's office.
Me: Did you tell my Airman to do this interview? Him: Yeah! I think a little "scared straight" is a good idea. Me: First, that program has been proven to not work. Second, there's this thing we swore an oath to protect. It's called the Constitution. Part of that Constitution is the Fourth Amendment, which you are encouraging an Airman to get dangerously close to violating. Him: It's not a 4A violation because it's not a custodial interview. If you have a problem with this, maybe you don't belong here. Me: Are you going to have her frame it as a request? Or are you going to have her call the dad and tell him he "needs" to bring his daughter in. Because if he has a reasonable perception that he has no choice in the matter, it's a custodial interview. And if you don't have a problem with that, I definitely don't belong here.
He sat back, thought for a second, then thanked me for coming and talking to him about it. He said he admired my passion for protecting people's constitutional rights.
The next week I was reassigned to a different section.
Yes. It can be as bad as you hear about. This was a minor example of how shitty cops aren't held accountable and what happens to others who try to keep them in check. Shitty cops are usually the outgoing, narcissistic assholes who charm the people who matter and everyone in the unit looks up to as the cool guy. Anyone who challenges them are the uptight nerds and are ostracized or encouraged to find another job.
The female Airman is now a clinical therapist.