Circling the wagons

Why admit to major problems in your police department when you can just let a couple of low-level cops take the fall? That seems to be the philosophy of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, who fully backs her cops and her chief of police in the wake of the killing of elderly Kathryn Johnston by police during a botched drug raid, and the indictment of three officers in the incident.

Mayor Franklin stands by her man despite allegations by federal prosecutors that the shooting was far from an isolated incident, but was, instead, the product of a "culture of misconduct" within the Atlanta Police Department. In fact, police involved in the incident have admitted that they and their colleagues frequently lie in order to get search warrants.

A better mayor might see the death of Johnston and the resulting scandal as a sign that it's time to clean house and bring the police department up to first-world standards. If nothing else, a major reform effort might help to off-set the extraordinarily bad press Atlanta is getting over the use of local citizens for shooting practice by police officers.

It might also help to minimize the frequency of future lawsuits and prosecutions of those entrusted with enforcement of the law.

Oh well. If Mayor Franklin can't be counted on to keep her political house tidy, maybe the feds will do it for her.