NEVER TOLERATE ABUSE BY POLICE

There are few things more scary than a rogue cop.

Law enforcement officers are given a huge amount of discretionary power by
our society. A lot of the time, the fates of accused citizens - innocent
and guilty - come down to whether prosecutors, judges and juries believe
the accused or believe the officers, since often they are the only people
at the crime scene.

So not only do the fates of accused citizens rest on the credibility of law
enforcement officers, but in a very real sense so does the credibility of
our criminal justice system.

Therefore it is vital that the mayor and the leadership of the Montgomery
Police Department dig as deeply as necessary to ensure they have rooted out
any and all rogue police officers who have abused their power.

The good news - if there can be any good news when as many as 11 police
officers have been implicated in wrong doing - is that the police
department appears to be policing itself.

According to Chief John Wilson, this probe started internally and is
proceeding vigorously. It began with suspicions of misconduct by one
officer and the failure to report it by another. But an investigation into
other activities of those officers has brought into question the activities
or acquiescence of others. Wilson has promised to follow the spread of this
disease no matter where it leads.

The department has begun a two-pronged investigation. The first is an
administrative investigation that could lead to dismissal or other
punishments against those officers under suspicion. The second is a
criminal probe, which local police officials will turn over to state and
federal authorities, depending on the nature of the suspected violations.

We urge the Montgomery Police Department to use the administrative process
to rid the department of not only those who abused their power, but those
supervisors who may have knowingly tolerated it. Even those who may not
have known specifically of incidents but failed to adequately supervise
should be considered for dismissal or some lesser punishment, depending on
the circumstances.

But we especially hope federal and state authorities bring criminal charges
and vigorously prosecute all those implicated by their independent
investigations.

Every citizen is essentially at the mercy of police officers. When abuses
occur, they are usually aimed at the least powerful in society. But not
always. If one says you were speeding, how can you really prove you
weren't? If they drop a baggie of marijuana in your teen's car, how can you
prove his or her innocence?

Most law enforcement officers are decent people who never abuse their
power. But protecting the reputations of those good officers means tracing
every finger of this cancer and excising it.