Positive fallout

Cynthia Tucker in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Futile drug war ignores target: Safety

If Kathryn Johnston’s tragic death is to lead to systemic change at the Atlanta Police Department, then Chief Richard Pennington should reconsider the foolish and costly war on drugs. Forget raising the numbers of narcotics officers Ö a tactic reminiscent of President Bush’s misguided “surge” in Iraq. What Pennington ought to do is decrease the number of officers who waste time and ruin lives going after penny-ante drug dealers.

Rose Rusell in the Toledo Blade: Police no-knock policy affects us all

WHEREVER you live, you should be concerned about the no-knock police policy that the U.S. Supreme Court said in a 5-4 decision last June could help ensure police safety and minimize chances for suspects to destroy evidence.
It must not have occurred to the court that someone could get hurt inside a house where police enter without saying who they are.
Worse than that happened to an elderly Atlanta woman last November […]
Putting ourselves in the place of the poor, minority, elderly, or otherwise vulnerable shows more clearly how a misguided policy affects every one of us.