Last week was not the best one for Ottawa police, as the Ontario Special Investigations Unit laid assault charges against two officers in the arrest of a homeless man and a judge considered allegations of cellblock mistreatment in a woman’s lawsuit against the force.

It’s important to remember that little news coverage results when police do their job well.

Complaints get the attention, but they are exceptional cases, and overall they were down 25 per cent in the first half of this year from the same period in 2010.

According to a report to the Police Services Board, of 194 complaints lodged, 116 were resolved, 113 of those without disciplining the officers involved, and three with informal discipline.

This overwhelming trend of resolution without any disciplinary consequences for officers might, however, discourage some from registering a complaint.

Lawrence Greenspon, the lawyer representing Roxanne Carr, one of at least six people suing Ottawa police over their treatment in holding cells, last year remarked that he hears about one complaint a week regarding police misconduct, and he usually advises clients not to bother with a complaints process he considers a “waste of time and energy.”

It’s not unusual for someone who’s been arrested to find their interaction with police essentially unsatisfactory, but both of last week’s cases included serious allegations.

Hugh Styres, the homeless man found sleeping on the sidewalk, ended up in hospital with facial fractures allegedly inflicted by police in arresting him. Styres was also charged with assault.

Velvet LeClair claims she was arrested with excessive force after a night out in the Market and then subjected to sexual assault and crude comments in custody.

LeClair’s case was complicated by the lack of a complete cellblock video, the uncut version of which has been destroyed, and the poor-quality excerpts remaining seem to contradict some of her recollections.

Video was key in the prominent case of Stacy Bonds. She is suing for $1.2 million over her arrest and subsequent treatment in custody, including a strip search. The SIU has charged one of the officers involved with sexual assault.

The courts will determine what actually happened in these cases, but police did well to acknowledge public concerns in the wake of the Bonds case by adding audio recording to cellblock cameras. Future abuse allegations are thus less likely to boil down to the word of the complainant against that of police.