SLAIN GEORGIA POLICEMAN HONORED

VILLA RICA, Ga. (AP) Police Capt. Robbie Bishop was always looking for that
next big score, the routine traffic stop that would turn into a
multimillion-dollar drug bust.

One of those stops cost him his life. Bishop was shot and killed Wednesday
after pulling over a navy blue Chevrolet Blazer on Interstate 20.

As the mug shot of the suspect hung on the office wall, officers from across
Georgia streamed through this town's tiny police station Thursday to pay
tribute to their slain colleague.

"Everybody knew Robbie and all that he had done in this line of work," Villa
Rica Police Chief Dean Maddox said.

Just before Bishop was shot, he issued a warning ticket to Jeffrey McGee, a
32-year-old Schenectady, N.Y., man who has been charged with murder and
assault in Bishop's death. Police believe he has fled to the West Coast.

McGee had been arrested 10 previous times, according to Schenectady police,
but none of the arrests were for drugs.

For reasons that weren't clear, Bishop had not alerted the dispatcher after
the stop, nor did he turn on the video camera to document the pullover,
police said. Officers are taught to call in each traffic stop, including the
location, license tag, make and color of the vehicle and the number of
passengers.

Bishop, a 35-year-old ex-Marine, built a career by hauling in a fortune in
drug money and illegal drugs from drivers along Georgia interstates. He also
traveled to other states to teach his techniques to other departments.

Bishop was considered one of the lead highway interdiction officers in the
country, said Brian Sullivan, an agent with Georgia's Drug Enforcement
Administration.

"For him, a big bust was like getting an eagle or making a birdie in golf,"
said Villa Rica City Manager Steve Russell. "He would have done this job for
free if he could."

Bishop, a married father of two, had been with the Villa Rica department in
Carroll County west of Atlanta for two years.

A member of the joint Interstate Crime Enforcement Unit, he assisted in the
seizure of more than 10,000 pounds of narcotics and the confiscation of more
than $8 million from drug traffickers over the past seven years.

"He just decided all drugs were evil and wanted to put a dent into the drug
trade," Maddox said.

Bishop was not without his critics.

Atlanta defense attorney Herb Shafer, who in 1991 defended a man pulled over
by Bishop for weaving, described the officer's tactics as "predatory" and
said he was not surprised by the shooting.

"Not only was it predictable, it was inevitable," Shafer said. "Sooner or
later, citizens whose constitutional rights are being trampled on are going
to arm themselves."

But Maj. Jimmy Jordan of the Spalding County Sheriff's Department said
Bishop taught everyone to stay within the rules.

"I don't understand the objection to what he was doing," Jordan said. "The
ones he stopped were drug dealers and killers."