Paging Michael Chiklis

The Birmingham police department continues to resemble "The Shield". We've had one cop running a gambling operation, and a couple of cops beating up a suspect and then sending him on his way. Two stories in today's Birmingham News. First:

Ex-girlfriend: Officer pistol-whipped her

And that's not all! He also broke into her home, forced her to crawl from one end of the house to the other, and (probably; she can't prove this) forced her to perform oral sex on him. To Protect and Serve!

Second:

Ex-officer's attorney takes self off case

A capital murder case, at that. A former police officer (it's not clear if he worked for Birmingham, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me) is charged with killing his wife's ex-husband and his new wife over a custody dispute. He then allegedly put them in the trunk of their car and set it on fire. The attorney wants off the case not because he doesn't like his chances but because of a confict of interest; the judge didn't like it that he'd represented both the former officer and his wife.