BARTON: GBI SHOULD BE INSULATED FROM RANK, SMALL-TOWN POLITICS

Anyone who believes politics are separate from policing should read the
four-part series "Justice Betrayed," which began last Thursday and concludes
in today's Morning News.

The articles, which described the botched investigation of a suspicious
death of a black man in Vidalia six years ago and how an aggressive Georgia
Bureau of Investigation agent who was working that case was given the bum's
rush by her bosses, confirms that law enforcement can be highly political.
It's not a pretty picture. Indeed, it makes it difficult for Georgians to
tell the good guys from the bad guys.

For example, here's what Toombs County Coroner Mandel Edenfield said when
reporters Tuck Thompson and Bret Bell started nosing around Vidalia and
approached him with questions about Henry Dickerson Jr., 28, a local
ne'er-do-well whose body was found submerged in the city attorney's swimming
pool in 1997:

"Are y'all trying to stir up trouble with the niggers?" Edenfield responded.
Clearly, he's one elected official who's a product of his time -- 1860, to
be exact.

But give Edenfield a smidgen of credit. He may be a racist, but at least
he's no phony. You know where you stand with him (the back of the bus, in
some cases). Any white guy who uses the N-word when talks to reporters is
baring his soul. In addition to his empty head.

The same can't be said for higher-ups in the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation. That's the statewide law enforcement agency that's the last
line of defense for citizens faced with inept, unprofessional or even
corrupt county sheriffs and police departments in rural Georgia.

What you see with the GBI isn't always what you get.

This series went into great detail about the roadblocks that a GBI special
agent, Vickey Horton Tapley, faced while she tried to do her job in Vidalia,
a southeast Georgia city that was part of her assigned coverage area. She
worked the Dickerson death. She also initiated a drug investigation of
Vidalia's city manager, a man who also seemed to have an inordinate amount
of interest in the Dickerson case.

Tapley sounded like a bulldog. For instance, when her superior asked her to
investigate a tip that Vidalia's city manager may be indulging in illicit
substances, she recruited the estranged wife of a city police lieutenant to
work a possible sting operation. That wasn't her brightest move. The woman,
as it turned out, blabbed to her husband. He told Vidalia's police chief,
who in turn alerted the city manager. Still, aren't drug investigations part
of the GBI's mission? Aren't agents supposed to follow orders?

Apparently not -- at least not when it rocks the boat and even powerful
state lawmakers, who control funding for the GBI, start paying attention.

It's noteworthy that House Speaker Terry Coleman, a Democrat from Eastman --
the same small town where Tapley was based -- suggested that reporters stop
asking questions about the Tapley case. Coleman said it might jeopardize her
employment. How touching. One of the top officials in state government cares
deeply about an agent's job security.

But others who were far above her on the GBI's career ladder, such as former
director Milton "Buddy" Nix (who now chairs Georgia's parole board) and
current director Vernon Keenan, apparently placed a higher priority on
maintaining a cozy, working arrangement with Vidalia's top officials.

Certainly, teanwork in policing is good. However, GBI officials should stand
up for agents who know their jobs and do them well. That didn't happen in
this case. When Vidalia's mayor, Ronnie Dixon, and his city manager and
police chief complained to the GBI about Tapley, Nix and Keenan should have
told them to take a hike. It was Tapley who was reassigned.

But that wasn't the worst humiliation that the agent endured. Her GBI
superiors knew that Vidalia's police chief had illegally listened to and
transcibed three telephone calls Tapley made, including one to her former
GBI supervisor and mentor, Glenn Meeks. They, along with the county's
district attorney or Attorney General Thurbert Baker, could have barbecued
the chief's behind. No one fired up a grill.

Nix and Keenan got their current jobs courtesy of Roy Barnes, the former
governor. Gov. Sonny Perdue, who talks a good game about ethics and
responsible government, should find out whether these two officials care
about serving the public's interests. He also should find a way to insulate
the GBI from rank, small-town politics.

The biggest question raised by this series isn't whether Toombs County's
coroner has a white sheet hanging in his closet. It's whether the GBI waves
too many white flags.