MISTAKES OF FALLEN COPS TEACH LESSONS

The Anniversary Of The Arrest Of 11 Area Officers Serves As Reminder Of The
Tests Of The Job.

Five years ago today, the Savannah Police Department was at rock bottom.

Eleven officers were arrested on federal drug charges -- 10 of those were
working or had worked for the city. One was a county cop.

Since then, police say they've regained what they lost in public trust. But
the case is a reminder that there are no guarantees in a job that always
tests a person's sense of right and wrong.

"Officers who get involved with these types of things, they hurt everyone,"
said Savannah police Maj. Dan Reynolds. "They may think they only hurt
themselves, but it hurts the whole department."

Now, 10 of the officers -- nine former or current Savannah police officers
when arrested -- are in federal prisons. The earliest any of them will go
free is 2004.

It's hard to measure what impact their convictions still have on the
department -- especially with so many newly hired officers on the streets
today who were not here during the arrests.

But in September 1997 and in the 12 months following the case, the Savannah
Police Department struggled to regain respect.

The arrests on conspiracy and federal drug charges came after a 20-month
undercover investigation by the FBI and Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics
Team. FBI agents had done three undercover sting operations in Savannah.

"It was like someone kicking you in the stomach. It was a surprise,"
Reynolds said.

The federal indictments charged officers in various ways of using their
police cars to provide escorts to drug dealers for money. The drug dealers
were undercover FBI agents.

The arrests damaged the public's trust in police and hurt officer morale
and the Savannah Police Department's reputation. But as David Gellatly,
police chief at the time of the case, pointed out -- the case involved a
small percentage of the department's 430 officers.

"There were 420 of them who wouldn't bite on the apple, so to speak," said
Gellatly, now a Chatham County commissioner. "The vast majority were honest
and dedicated men and women."

All but one of the officers either admitted guilt or were convicted in
trials. A jury found former Savannah officer Eugene Johnson not guilty.

The investigation started after a convicted drug dealer, Walter Heyward,
told FBI and CNT drug agents he knew of police corruption.

The officers arrested didn't know that the alleged drug dealers who paid
them were undercover FBI agents. None of the drugs made it onto the street.

Once Gellatly was shown tapes of two of his officers taking money, he
cooperated with the investigation. After the case broke, he took steps to
better scrutinize applicants and step up supervision of officers on the street.

"There isn't a department in the country that hasn't gone through something
like this," said Gellatly. "Some departments choose not to look at
themselves. We went after them ourselves. When the warrants were issued,
Savannah police officers made the arrests. There wasn't anyone making any
apologies for them."

Of the Savannah officers involved, four were working with the department at
the time of their arrests.

Savannah City Councilman David Jones, a police officer for three decades
before retiring, said the case taught the department to keep a better eye
on officers.

"The good part is, it showed that anybody can go to jail. They didn't spare
the officers because they were police officers," Jones said.

When Dan Flynn started as Savannah police chief two years ago, he quickly
learned the history of the arrests.

"I saw what a painful thing that was to the entire community," Flynn said.
"But I think the measures taken were effective."

Officers today say stories of the case are fading. After all, you have to
learn from mistakes, not dwell on them.

"No matter how good you are, in whatever you do, ethics plays a big part in
success," Reynolds said. "If you don't learn from this, then this is going
to happen again."