18 deputies face federal charges
That is the headline in a Los Angeles County jails probe where federal officials say 18 current and former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies saw themselves as being "above the law," engaging in corruption and civil rights abuses that included beating inmates and visitors, falsifying reports and trying to block an FBI probe of the nation's largest jail system.(Associated Press Dec. 10, 2013)

The lawmen I depict in my new novel, AS ALL MY FATHERS WERE, are not that bad and they certainly do not represent the lawmen in the counties in the book. It's a novel, for cryin' out loud, so the author can make up stories as he goes along. But this article shows that it can happen anywhere.

But if you say it couldn't happen, then you need to take another look at what can happen in small towns with little oversight. A friend and I got nailed by a sheriff's deputy in Glenrock, Wyoming back in the 1950's, put in jail for a couple of hours, fined and all because we had a broken spring shackle on our 1935 Chevy. He thought we were stealing oil field supplies. Wanted to see what we were doing out in that county anyway, coming from Nebraska and Oregon like we were.  If you are ever locked up in a small county jail with nobody else in the jail and you know you are innocent, it can make the hair rise on the back of you neck and other places not seen by others.