ROBESON CORRUPTION PROBE MUST ROOT OUT THE ROT

Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt says it's time for some
healing. That may not be possible with wounds so fresh, and the
possibility of more to come. But the county has to try.

A 3 1/2-year state and federal investigation of Robeson County law
enforcement -- and especially the Drug Enforcement Division of the
county sheriff's office -- has resulted in charges against six
sheriff's deputies and two Lumberton police officers so far. Officials
say the investigation, called Operation Tarnished Badge, is continuing
and more arrests are likely. It is another blow to a county that long
has staggered under terrible burdens of poverty, racial problems,
unrelenting violent crime and political corruption. Because of the
charges, DA Britt says, he'll have to drop more than 300 drug cases.

It is a law-enforcement nightmare. The latest charges came on June 9
in a 29-page federal indictment against three former drug cops who are
charged with a litany of crimes that includes theft of tens of
thousands of dollars from drug dealers and firebombing homes. The
deputies were also charged with paying informants with drugs that had
been seized as evidence, and with filing false vouchers to steal
federal drug-seizure funds.

Since the investigation began, police officers have faced charges
including kidnapping, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, tampering
with a witness, making false statements to the FBI, robbery,
racketeering and arson.

Many of the charges stem from former Sheriff Glenn Maynor's decade in
office, from 1994 until 2004, when he resigned, citing health problems.

Britt says Maynor isn't a suspect, but it's clear that neither Maynor
nor current Sheriff Kenneth Sealey adequately supervised their drug
unit. Drug deputies report directly to the sheriff and work out of an
adjoining office. Before the healing can be complete, all of the rot
must be carved out of the county's law-enforcement agencies and new
protections must be added to make sure it doesn't recur.

The job begins in the Sheriff's Office, which, incredibly, has no
internal-affairs division.

Nobody is policing the police. That has to change.

The indictments are charges, of course, not convictions. The courts
will have to hear the evidence and issue verdicts before this story is
done. Meanwhile, the DA says, "As a county, we are going to have to
come together to improve our self-image. ... One way of improving that
image is to go to work and go to work hard, and show your commitment
to the community." That's a big challenge for Sheriff Sealey. He needs
to prove, quickly, that he's up to it. If he isn't, he needs to step
aside.

Completion of a thorough investigation is likely to show that most of
Robeson County's law-enforcement officers are good people and capable
cops. A probe like this, unfortunately, casts a pall over every cop in
town. The good ones should hold their heads high and continue to do a
good job. They need to stand up and make it clear, at every level,
that they won't tolerate corruption in their midst any longer.