CORRUPTION PUTS COPS IN HEADLINES FOR WRONG REASON

Police Scandals

ATLANTA - An ''Officer of the Year'' was charged with running a gang and
tipping off drug leaders.

A sheriff was convicted of punching two men in jail. Two deputies taped
themselves having sex with a woman while they were in uniform. And that's
just the beginning of a long list of Georgia officers who have been
charged, accused or convicted in recent months.

A deputy was sued for hitting a suspect with his cruiser, an officer
allegedly stole money during a search, another is under investigation for
shooting a man after a 911 call and a retired police major is charged with
using his connections to help his wife scam people whose money had been
seized by officers. Georgia officers who swear to uphold the law have been
breaking it in a number of recent high-profile cases. Recent cop corruption
Recent police corruption cases: Franklin Police Chief Robert Tucker was
suspended Sept. 2 for allegedly using a city credit card for personal expenses.

He has since been reinstated but is still under investigation. Former
Atlanta police Maj. John Woodard pleaded not guilty Aug. 29 to charges he
used his position to get police information and gave it to his wife's business.

The wife, Debra Woodard, is accused of falsely claiming cash seized by
officers. East Point Officer Danny Powell turned himself in Aug. 28 after
he was accused of stealing money during a car search. Albany police Cpl.
Max Parrish was placed on leave after he shot and wounded a man during an
attempted robbery of a Subway Sandwiches & Salad shop Aug. 27. A jail
spokesman said Aug. 25 the FBI was investigating four Dougherty County Jail
officers who are accused of beating a mean unconscious with a pair of
handcuffs and knocking a woman's tooth out. Former Treutlen County Sheriff
Wayne Hooks was convicted Aug. 22 of using excessive force at a jail after
arresting two men. A former Liberty County deputy, whose name wasn't
released, was found not guilty by a jury Aug. 22 on charges she
investigated her own rape. Chattooga County sheriff's deputies Lt. Dan
Young and Sgt. Jamye Dawson resigned Aug. 15 after a videotape surfaced
showing them having sex with an unidentified woman.

The officers were in full uniform with their sheriff's department
walkie-talkies turned on. Atlanta police Officer David Alan Freeman was
arrested Aug. 13 on charges he warned the Diablos of police investigations,
confiscated drugs from arrested suspects in rival gangs and attempted to
recruit gang members. Two Fulton County Jail employees were arrested in
early August after an undercover investigation found they were involved in
drug deals with inmates. East Ellijay Police Chief Larry Seabolt was
arrested July 28 on charges he falsified an accident report and offered to
drop a DUI citation in exchange for sexual favors.

''Anytime you have an officer who crosses the line, whether one or 1,500,
that's too many,'' said Brad Pope, director of investigations for the
Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council. ''They should know
better - there's a higher standard we expect of police officers.'' It's
difficult to tell whether corruption is on the rise in Georgia or if it
just seems that way because so many misconduct cases have been in the news,
said Sue Carter Collins, a criminal justice professor at Georgia State
University. ''We all want to believe the agencies and officers are not
corrupt, and that they're not hiding anything from the public,'' she said.
''But from a practical standpoint, there's not any way to know anything
like this with certainty.'' When an officer is suspected of misconduct, the
state standards council can open an investigation, Pope said. There are
about 1,500 cases a year out of 105,000 certified officers in Georgia -
56,000 of them actively employed as police and deputies. ''I think we're
just hearing about it more,'' he said. ''That's not a trend. I can't say
this is anything new or different.'' A summary of officer violations over
the last four years shows 915 incidents in 1999, a steady rise to a high of
1,712 cases in 2002. Through July of this year, 554 violations have been
reported, according to standards council reports. David Alan Freeman, known
as ''Day Day'' among fellow gangsters, is the Atlanta officer who was
indicted by a federal grand jury last month on charges that he ordered acts
of murder, kidnapping, and the beating of rivals and witnesses to crimes.
In the police force, he had a reputation as an aggressive, tough-on-crime
officer who overcame a childhood in a rough northwest Atlanta housing project.

He was named his zone's ''Officer of the Year'' two weeks before his
arrest. The grand jury accuses Freeman of warning gang members of police
investigations, confiscating drugs from arrested suspects in rival gangs
and attempting to recruit gang members. Police Chief Richard Pennington,
who fired more than 200 officers for corruption in the New Orleans
department before coming to Atlanta, has said he won't tolerate similar
misconduct. ''He has every intention of cleaning up corruption, and those
who are found to be in violation of any laws ... are going to be dealt with
firmly and harshly,'' said spokesman Sgt. John Quigley. In another case,
Treutlen County Sheriff Wayne Hooks was convicted Aug. 22 of punching two
men in the face at the county jail. Attorneys for Hooks, a well-liked
sheriff, argued he was trying to control two drunk and unruly suspects. ''I
don't believe police misconduct is an epidemic,'' said U.S. Attorney Rick
Thompson, who prosecuted Hooks. ''Most of the law enforcement community are
standup men and women dedicated to their profession, and they're proud of
what they do.'' But there are still more reports of recent police
misconduct - a jail beating in Dougherty that knocked a woman's tooth out,
the Franklin police chief under investigation for using a city credit card
for himself, a Rome officer charged with rape, the East Ellijay police
chief arrested for falsifying an accident report. ''They'll have to take a
close look to make sure everything went down correctly,'' said John
Bankhead, spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. ''Every day a
police officer puts on his or her uniform, there's a chance they'll have to
make the ultimate decision to use force.'' Policing agencies are held
accountable by their internal affairs units, criminal investigations,
federal civil rights probes and the state standards council. Still, it's
difficult for the public to keep police honest unless they put pressure on
their elected officials to hold law enforcement responsible for its
actions, said Allyson Collins, deputy director of the Los Angeles-based
Police Assessment Resource Center. ''It's predictable that things like this
will happen, and there will be talk about it, and then it will fade away
until next time,'' Collins said. ''It's up to citizens in the community to
let elected officials and others know that they are watching these issues
and they want to see misconduct addressed.''