But the lopsided tendency for U.S. prosecutors to reject charging officers in civil rights cases could easily be seen as validation for outrage at what amounts to police impunity. "It's a difficult situation for the legal system in general," Mel Johnson, assistant U.S. attorney for civil rights cases in Wisconsin's Eastern District, told the Trib. "Federal and state governments have not succeeded in deterring police misconduct. I would say the legal system has a way to go."