Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein is right to "Thank a Cop" in honor of National Police Week. Good police work is essential to a fair and effective criminal justice system.

However, Mr. Rosenstein is wrong to imply that his office's occasional prosecution of corrupt police officers, usually for theft and fraud offenses, means that we have been vigilant enough in policing law enforcement.

Much has changed since 1962, when National Police Week was created. Most significantly, the mass incarceration of racial and ethnic minorities, primarily for drug offenses, has shaken our community's faith in the fairness of the criminal justice system.

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