POLICE 'BREAKDOWN'?

The more details surface in the investigation of the bizarre circumstances
surrounding the murder of Detroiter Alvin Knight, the more the city's
Police Department has to answer for. Specifically, did police ignore an
earlier murder attempt against Mr. Knight at the residence of Nellie
Varner, a partner in the Atwater-Circus/Circus casino group? And was that
probe purged because Ms. Varner is politically well-connected?

Mr. Knight was killed one day after a Wayne County Probate Court judge
ordered Nellie Varner and her adopted daughter Janniss Scott Varner to
return to Mr. Knight his 6-year-old son, Alvin Norwood. Although the
Varners are not related to the boy biologically, Ms. Scott Varner had
helped raise the child since birth.

Police have not implicated the Varners in Mr. Knight's death. But the
reluctance of the police to launch an investigation into an earlier attempt
on his life puts the department in a very bad light.

The earlier incident occurred in November 1995. According to police
reports, Mr. Knight came to the Varner home to retrieve his son. Nellie
Varner allegedly asked Knight to look at her car, which she said had
malfunctioned. In the garage, Mr. Knight was assaulted by a masked gunman.
Mr. Knight fought with the assailant and wrested away the gun after being
shot. The gunman escaped.

Although Mr. Knight took the .38-caliber weapon to the 12th Precinct, where
he reported the incident, there is thus far no evidence that the police
followed up on the attack. For reasons not yet explained, ballistics were
not taken to determine gun ownership, and no one was ever arrested. The
Smith & Wesson allegedly used in the shooting has since been found by
homicide investigators in police department storage.

Police officials now say they are looking into the possibility of a
breakdown in procedure. The department's Internal Affairs section also is
trying to determine whether a missing persons report that Mr. Knight filed
after Ms. Scott Varner had taken custody of his son was improperly handled.

The Knight murder has raised concerns that won't easily go away. Can a
police force capable of shirking a probe into a violent, armed attack
against a citizen be relied upon to investigate itself? Did police not
pursue the shooting incident or the custody claim because Nellie Varner, a
former University of Michigan regent and casino investor, is politically
prominent?

The civilian Board of Police Commissioners, whose job it is to monitor
police activity, doesn't seem to have done its job very effectively in this
instance. Perhaps the State Police should be called in.

Public confidence in the integrity of the department hangs in the balance.

Copyright 1998, The Detroit News

Checked-by: Richard Lake