A HEALTHY INTOLERANCE FOR POLICE CORRUPTION

Roanoke Is Rid Of A Dirty Cop - And Assured That Its Law-Enforcement
System Will Not Harbor Criminals.

Roanokers can be grateful that most members of their Police Department have
a better grasp of the law.

As a Roanoke police officer, Pledge admits, he extorted money, including
some that he knew came from illegal drug sales, and sought out information
to help a drug trafficker. A federal grand jury indictment alleges that he
took almost $16,000, as well as guns, crack, marijuana and jewelry.

Pledge went way beyond violating department policy. He broke the law.
Repeatedly. In doing so, he committed an offense as bad or worse than those
that he aided and abetted. He broke the public trust.

A dirty cop brings not only disgrace on himself, but damage to his fellow
officers, who depend on public support for their own safety and
effectiveness. Damage to that relationship, in turn, spreads harm widely
and indiscriminately.

No one can feel safe on the block where illegal drug sales go on, with
their attendant threat of spin-off crimes and violence. Law-abiding people
are made vulnerable where they should be most secure, in their homes and
neighborhoods.

How much more vulnerable they become if they must wonder whether the people
who enforce the law are in cahoots with the people breaking it.

Roanoke's police chief and city manager both assure the public that Pledge
was merely one bad officer whose actions should not reflect on the
department as a whole. The number may be more than one, but their point is
well-taken. Though the federal investigation is not yet complete, the
picture emerging is not one of a department rife with corruption.

Under Chief Atlas "Joe" Gaskins, it cooperated fully with federal
investigators to root out the rot, and it should be commended for that.

To his misfortune, Pledge was part of a department willing to make a
federal case out of police racketeering.