Misbehaving Cops Stay on the Force

Georgia law lets officers block punishment with an appeal

Police officers punished for serious misconduct by the state may continue to draw their pay and even carry a badge for years if they appeal the sanctions, according to an analysis of state data by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Some appeals languish for more than a decade after arriving at the state attorney general's office, which represents the state in such appeals. Cases currently pending have been on file for an average of five years, the newspaper's investigation found.

Rank and file officers and even chiefs of police have continued to work — for their original agency or a different one — after being sanctioned for violations as serious as killing a recruit during training, waving a gun at random in a bar, falsifying official records and DUI. Some officers were accused of new offenses while they appealed their first cases.