Corruption in Atlanta Police Dep’t. ‘Widespread’

A few months ago, Atlanta police officers broke into the home of Kathryn Johnston with a "no-knock" search warrant to look for drugs. Ms. Johnston, who was 88 years old, thought she was being burglarized.  When she heard men breaking down her front door, she retrieved her handgun and shot through the door. The police shot back and killed her.

Her tragic death brought scrutiny to the police department, and what a mess it is. Yesterday, several officers pleaded guilty to criminal charges. They lied to obtain the warrant and then they tried to cover up their lies by planting marijuana and cocaine in Ms. Johnston's home as she lay dead on the floor. 

The Atlanta chief of police apparently couldn't clean house himself — he called 911 and asked for the FBI and federal prosecutors for assistance. Yesterday, federal officials said they are investigating a "culture of corruption." An attorney for one of the cops involved claims that the officer was "trained" to put false information into search warrant applications! The investigation is still underway.

Last year, the Supreme Court heard a no-knock case and the majority opinion was authored by Justice Scalia. Scalia and the conservatives said that concerns about civil liberties violations were overblown in light of "the increasing professionalism of police forces." Wrong.

The spotlight is on Atlanta because of Ms. Johnston's death. But it would be a serious mistake for anyone to conclude that the "culture of misconduct" is unique to that city's police department. It's hard to say how bad it is because there's so little interest in tackling the festering problem.  If more journalists  would take an interest, we'd see more corrective action, as happened with the Walter Reed scandal. Why not begin with the Maye case in Mississippi?