New at Reason

February 13, 2007

Radley Balko returns to Atlanta for an update on the case of Kathryn Johnson, the elderly woman shot by police.

Comments

|2.13.07 @ 1:42PM|#

I wish I could be optimistic that this will cause police and governments to take a good hard look at these raids, but I doubt it.

I think nothing is going to happen until someone who is politically connected at the highest levels gets killed or injured. Until then, it will always be brushed off as "just a few officers" or "a series of unfortunate mistakes" or [worst of all] "this is a war and we have to accept that there will be innocents who: get caught in the crossfire/be collateral damage/be in the wrong place/choose your cliche."

|2.13.07 @ 1:43PM|#

Keep up the good work, Radley.

BTW: Any developments on Cory Maye lately?

Dan T.|2.13.07 @ 1:52PM|#

Until then, it will always be brushed off as "just a few officers" or "a series of unfortunate mistakes" or [worst of all] "this is a war and we have to accept that there will be innocents who: get caught in the crossfire/be collateral damage/be in the wrong place/choose your cliche."

But there is some truth to that. While the police should try to keep mistakes at a minimum, law enforcement is often a kind of violent exercise and will always result in some degree of collateral damage.

This doesn't mean that writers like Mr. Balko don't perform an important service by keeping us aware of what those mistakes are so pressure will kept on the police to improve their processes.

|2.13.07 @ 1:59PM|#

The informant's name wasn't Fuzzy Dunlop, was it? The problem with narcotics police is too many Herc's, and not enough Bunny Colvins.

bill|2.13.07 @ 2:15PM|#

Cops are assholes and that's all there is to say about that.

Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|2.13.07 @ 2:44PM|#

Csehy conceded his client may have made mistakes, but he said Junnier didn't commit murder. "There was no malfeasance here. It was sloppy police work," Csehy said. "It was cutting corners."

Uh huh. Sloppy police work...no malfeasance...let's see:

Junnier and Smith allegedly tried to cover up the botched raid by trying to persuade Alex White, a confidential informant they had previously used, to lie to investigators, according to proposed indictment.

OOPS!

Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|2.13.07 @ 2:46PM|#

Radley,

That was an excellent article. I hope that the media, and the feds *gulp*, keeps the pressure on.

|2.13.07 @ 5:10PM|#

TPG,

If I understand the terms correctly, technically the lawyer is correct, as the charges would imply misfeasance, not malfeasance. But, IANAL.

|2.14.07 @ 1:24AM|#

It is time we stopped getting upset about the immoral behavior of government. Governments, like corporations, attempt to maximize profit. If the government can behave in ways that we consider immoral (i.e. no knock drug raids on 88 year old women) without negatively affecting their revenue, then we should assume that they will.

The amount of change in police procedure is directly proportional to the level of consequences they face for their bad behavior. To maximize change, you must maximize the negative consequences of bad actions. First, define what negative consequences may be imposed on them:
1.) Individual officers going to jail
2.) Police force or City of Atlanta paying large settlements to victim's family.
3.) Negative publicity about APD brutality hinders growth of Atlanta, resulting in lower tax revenue.