Gun Down a Citizen, Get a Raise?
That’s just another day in the life of a police chief in Atlanta, I guess.
Atl Police Chief May Get Pay Raise
Atlanta’s Chief of Police could get a pay raise in the midst of a federal investigation into some of his narcotics officers.
Wednesday afternoon, the Atlanta City Council Finance Committee voted three to two in favor of the raise. It would provide nearly a $10,000 yearly bonus for Chief Richard Pennington.
The mayor’s office first introduced the idea of a raise before the deadly raid at Kathryn Johnston’s home as a way to reward the chief for bringing down the city’s crime rate.
I guess when your own narcotics officers are being investigated by the FBI for criminally negligent behavior, it does call into question the tactics used to ‘bring down the crime rate’.
Of course, this isn’t the end of the story. This still needed to be pushed through by the Atlanta City Council, which was voted upon today. I’d like to say that they unanimously voted against this raise, as a vote of confidence on Pennington and the no-knock raids. They didn’t. Thankfully, they didn’t rubber-stamp it, but they did what a city council would do with any controversial thing they want to accomplish: they postponed it until after the news cycle dies down. Even so, it was only 8-7.
They pushed the decision out until May. At that time, with Christmas, the Super Bowl, and springtime frolicking all occurring between now and then, the people of Atlanta will have moved on. At which time they’ll quietly pass this pay raise with little opposition. Always remember: the public’s outrage is fleeting and transitory— but big-city political wranglers are willing to wait us out.
PS – Early print (well, online) news reports today are claiming they voted to deny the pay increase. Radio reports are claiming they voted to table this until at least May. Given the details I’ve heard on the radio, I think the radio is the correct version.
