In the Salt Lake City Weekly's cover story this week, Badgered: The cops’ union pressures Ralph Becker to go soft on police discipline, Ted McDonough sifts the controversy surrounding Salt Lake City's Civilian Police Review Board.

The board has been crippled for nearly a year, following mass resignations.* Newly elected Mayor Ralph Becker fired the board's investigator Ty McCartney, right, who had earned the cops' wrath for apparently for doing his job too well.

State Sen. Scott McCoy, who is board chairman, tells McDonough:

“Ty was really good at what he did. He was a good administrator, a good nvestigator. He was tough and he was aggressive and he did the job.”

Apparently, that isn't what the job calls for. McCartney and the board made the mistake of clashing with police union president Tom Gallegos. Gallegos and Chief Chris Burbank had been embarrassed when the board uncovered that Gallegos had been mildly disciplined, but not fired, for incidents of sexual harassment and sending pornographic e-mails.

Becker, who wants to earn the political support of the cops, has yet to take a stand on the issue. But he ominously initially supported a proposal by Sen. Chris Buttars to keep Salt Lake police disciplinary records secret. Buttars, for once exercising good judgment, ultimately pulled the bill.

McCartney told SLWeekly that warm feelings aren't possible between cops and a truly effective oversight board. “If you're looking at dirt, you're going to get dirty.”

*The Salt Lake Tribune is part of this story. Pressure on the board intensified after the Trib reported the Review Board had sustained an excessive force complaint against a police officer for roughing up 74-year-old military veteran in Liberty Park.