And so he should be, from what I can tell.  Sgt. Kevin Douglas is a 17-year veteran of the Edmonton City Police.

On March 4, 2010 he got into an argument with one of the prisoners at Edmonton’s downtown cells.  He apparently lost it on the guy, who had to be taken to hospital, and also required plastic surgery to repair damage to one of his ears.

The entire thing was caught on the closed-circuit video system, but Edmonton police are refusing to make that video public.

“That video is before the courts, as well, so it will not be available for viewing, but we do have a copy of that video that has gone over as evidence to the courts.”

Douglas was, naturally, place on administrative leave for the duration of the investigation.  Nothing quite like the feeling of getting a paid vacation after beating the crap out of someone, right?

That’s something that the police really have to change.  This stupid policy of giving paid vacations to cops who’ve broken the law.

Unfortunately, you can bet that it will never change as long as the police are in charge of investigating themselves.

On the upside, Sgt. Douglas is finally facing assault charges, so that’s a good thing.  What is less clear is whether or not he’s still getting paid.  I would hope that since he’s been formally charged, any paid vacation he’s been on has now ended.

From what the Edmonton Sun reports, however, I don’t think that’s the case.

Edmonton Police Service Deputy Chief Neil Dubord says in that article that Sgt. Douglas is now re-assigned to a “non-operational role”, whatever that means.

According to that same article, this isn’t the first time Douglas has been the subject of a police misconduct investigation.

Douglas was cleared of all charges in November 2009 in relation to an incident involving a man with cerebral palsy who was zapped with a conductive energy device before being strip searched in police custody.

The victim in that case has since died of cancer.