Here’s one of those things:

You know those two police officers – Sean Alivera, 31, and Christopher Luciano, 23 – of whom Aaron Kase blogged the other day, saying they “were arrested…for allegedly stealing three grand and 20 pounds of weed from a North Philly drug dealer” who happened to be a cop? Yeah, Alivera and Luciano weren’t the targets of the sting for which they were arrested.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey may be getting tired of these press conferences, sure, but Philadelphians are getting tired of the embarrassing public police incompetence – of a few bad apples, as usual – over the past few months. Ramsey even suggested at a press conference that the case, while in its “infancy” may run deeper. “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.

The Inky’s reporting that said 25th District police officers had never been suspected of wrongdoing. An informant who helped police set up the sting had originally identified two other officers as associates of a local drug dealer.

It’s getting better, and District Attorney Seth Williams was pulling some Law and Order shit:

After stopping the undercover officer and putting him in their car, Alivera and Luciano used some pretext to drive him away. During that time, someone believed to be an associate of the drug dealer came and took the marijuana. That person escaped with the drugs, and police were still seeking him on Thursday.

After about 15 minutes, Alivera and Luciano returned with the undercover officer still in custody. One of the officers drove him back to the district in the police cruiser. The other officer got into the undercover operative’s car and also returned to the district. The $3,000 was found in the two officers’ possession, authorities said.

District Attorney Seth Williams, following the sting operation on an open phone line, then made the call:

“That’s enough. Arrest them.”

Last night’s Police Department public meetings on misconduct were just letting out as the Inky filed this story.