A driver traveling below the speed limit might, in some circumstances, raise a legitimate safety concern.
But speed alone did not explain the entire encounter, and the evidence did not establish the specific observations Mercer claimed justified his actions.
The use-of-force issue was clearer.
He had broken the window while I was seated, visible, communicating, and attempting to comply with his order to exit.
No recording showed a threat requiring the immediate use of that force.
The independent reviewers began preparing formal findings.
But before they were finished, another piece of evidence surfaced.
A memorandum from Lieutenant Halden's office.
It was three years old.
And its wording explained why so many complaints had disappeared before anyone reviewed them.
The memorandum wasn't labeled secret.
It was an administrative guidance document circulated to several patrol supervisors after the department reported an increase in citizen complaints.
Its stated purpose was to improve consistency.
But one section instructed supervisors to resolve certain complaints as informal service matters whenever possible, particularly when the incident had not resulted in a citation, arrest, or clearly documented injury.
The wording was broad enough to create serious confusion.
A complaint could allege improper treatment and still be downgraded simply because no arrest occurred.
A search-related complaint might be treated as a communication issue if no contraband was found.
And allegations of threats or intimidation could be routed away from formal review if the supervisor described them as dissatisfaction with an officer's tone.
The auditors compared the memorandum with the complaint records.
The timing mattered.
After the guidance circulated, the rate of formal misconduct intake declined while the number of informal service entries increased.
That didn't prove every classification was deliberate.
But it suggested that supervisors had been encouraged to reduce the number of complaints entering the formal investigative process.
The memorandum bore Halden's approval.
And it referenced an older performance initiative under which command staff were expected to demonstrate progress in reducing formal complaints.
The county's legal advisers began examining who authorized the initiative, how it was interpreted, and whether anyone knowingly used it to prevent legitimate allegations from being investigated.
The problem was more complicated than one corrupt officer hiding files.
It involved incentives.
Ambiguous instructions.
Supervisory discretion.
And years of employees learning that keeping complaint numbers low was rewarded more consistently than determining whether complaints were true.
I read the audit's authorized summary in my office.
For a long time, I stared at the figures.
Then I looked toward the window.
I thought about Evelyn Brooks.
Adrian Lewis.