The good news, says tiny Elsa PD: None of our officers have been arrested for smuggling drugs this year

Since I try to track drug-related law enforcement corruption along the Texas-Mexico border on this blog, it's worth putting a bow on a story Grits first described last year, via DRC Net:

In McAllen, Texas, a former Elsa police officer was sentenced November 21 to seven years in federal prison after being caught in an undercover bribery and drug string. Herman Carr, 46, had earlier pleaded guilty to taking $5,000 in August 2006 to provide protection for a vehicle he believed was carrying 11 pounds of cocaine. The drug dealers were actually FBI agents. Carr is the second former Elsa officer to go down in the sting: In May, Ismael Gomez, 27, got an eight-year sentence for taking $2,500 to protect a supposed 22 pound coke shipment.

Elsa PD was also the subject this year of a federal consent decree (pdf) over sexual discrimination and retaliation charges.

Describing the sentence, the McAllen Monitor optimistically concluded, without apparent irony, "Elsa’s police department has had considerable turnover since the men’s arrests; however, none of its officers has faced drug-related charges this year." That last line sounds almost like bragging, given what's happened in the last year at the tiny, rural department!