Only the most extreme brutality cases usually result in criminal charges.
"I have some brutality cases coming up and let me tell you, I'm in no hurry to try them."
It was believed to be the first time a police union anywhere in the country paid to settle a brutality case.
Ms. Reno's office had a history of being reluctant to prosecute police officers involved in brutality cases.
Unlike earlier brutality cases, the issues now are not so cut and dried.
You'll find that most brutality cases are with rookies, although not necessarily women.
Now civil rights leaders say more needs to be done, like opening old brutality cases.
Manhattan prosecutors lost the last brutality case they tried.
Professor Fyfe disagreed, saying brutality cases are much harder to prove.
A second factor in the higher claim costs, city officials said, was that several large brutality cases had been settled in a single year.