Best way to cover up police misconduct: Plant drugs, ditch dashcam video, threaten subordinates, or have supervisor tell media 'all is well'?

Several police misconduct incidents caught this blogger's eye recently that merit Grits readers' attention:

False arrest covered up with planted drugs
At the Aransas Pass Police Department, "Several witnesses are coming forward saying they saw officers tase and beat a suspect only to find out they had the wrong guy. Witnesses also claim to have seen police officers plant drugs on the man." Six different people signed affidavits saying the drugs were planted after officers earlier announced they'd searched the suspect and found nothing. Sounds like a spur of the moment thing: Do you suppose the cop in question just carried drugs around on the job just in case?

Beating leaves cyclist on life support
Also from the Aransas Pass PD, Officer Jason Torres was placed on administrative leave over allegations that he knocked down a bicyclist then beat him so severely last month it left him on life support unable to speak. The badly beaten man, who was riding his bike to his home just blocks from the incident, was later charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest. The officer's dashcam conveniently failed to record the incident. The chief says he expects an investigation by the Texas Rangers to clear Torres, but the family's attorneys claim to be in possession of damning evidence. In any event, for a small town of around 10,000, that's a lot of cop controversy.

In-uniform cop hits school bus driving drunk to work
In Houston, reports the Chronicle, a police officer with a blood alcohol content of .205 was in uniform, driving to work, when his car slammed into a school bus. The cover up was nearly immediate: At the scene, responding officers ticketed the school bus driver (who told them the officer "smelled like alcohol, appeared to have been drinking and had open bottles of beer and wine in his vehicle"), then a supervisor "told reporters at the accident scene that blood tests would show [Officer Ruben] Trejo was not under the influence of any substances." Now the officer has been fired and the union has been informed that "at least two HPD officers, including supervisors, are under investigation for unspecified misconduct" related to the April 13 crash. In most allegations of police misconduct, of course, there is no forensic evidence available to debunk officers whose first instinct is to cover for one another. Good on HPD management for not sweeping the matter under the rug.

Recurring allegations by women against Brazos deputy constable

According to KWES-TV, "A Central Texas law officer who quit last week after being charged with kidnapping has been accused of trying to rape another female. College Station police say the second young woman came forward after hearing news reports about the first case." In the latest incident, Deputy Augustin Rubio was "charged with abducting a woman Aug. 31 while working off-duty security." The other woman making accusations was arrested by Rubio in June for alleged underaged drinking: she told authorities the deputy "tried to rape her before driving her to jail."

Indictment follows constable's retaliation threats against deputies
In Dallas, reports the Morning News, "Prosecutors on Friday accused indicted Dallas County Precinct 1 Constable Derick Evans of enforcing a ticket quota, retaliating against whistle-blowers, forcing on-duty deputies to distribute campaign material and raising campaign money with an illegal raffle for almost a decade." This stems from one of the investigations Dallas DA Craig Watkins handed off to a special prosecutor after sitting on the allegations for two years. Reported the News, "The court documents filed Friday also allege that Evans tried to intimidate potential witnesses against him last fall by referring to special prosecutors in the case as 'snakes' and threatened to 'chop the heads off' any deputies who cooperated with them." A trial date has been set for Nov. 28.