Shadow boxing

This former policeman got off way too easy:

A former policeman who admitted he shook down Hispanic motorists in Westfield received a sentence Thursday of one year on home detention.

Scott Fross, 38, had pleaded guilty to bribery. He could have received a sentence of up to eight years, according to the Hamilton County prosecutor's office.

In addition to the home detention, with exceptions for travel to work and school, Fross will serve five years on probation.

In 2007, Fross was a lieutenant with the Westfield police when he tried to get cash from Hispanic drivers who did not have licenses. He took about $1,000 from four people who were frightened by the shakedowns, investigators said.

Police who become shakedown artists are abusing their powers in the worst way, making the law a commodity that can be bought and sold and breeding disrespect for the whole system of justice. This guy should have spent at least a couple of years in the slammer.

The story doesn't say, but the Hispanic motorists involved presumably were illegal aliens. That's another reason to be infuriated that so many want to let the current situation just continue; people who live in the legal shadows are ripe for exploitation by scoundrels from all quarters. But that should be irrelevant when judging the sins of the cop -- corrupt people will usually find a way to let that corruption shine sooner or later.