AJ editorial 12A Sept 23, 1969
WE DO NOT believe that police are brutal de facto and neither
do we believe that all young
people who frequent Piedmont Park
are looking for four-leaf clovers.
We do believe, however, that there are better ways
of handling situations similar to
Sunday's than with clubs and tear gas and that this one got out of hand and
that bad judgment was used by the police.
We believe in keeping the parks open
for all citizens and that the young who were quoted as saying: that Piedmont is
their park were as wrong as the rigid conformists who want to close the parks
because of such activity.
What has happened in Piedmont Park was bad business for
Atlanta and we ought to work at seeing that such doesn't happen again.
The Police Department 'has announced the transfer of two men
who were involved and an investigation
is under way. This fracas is being investigated by a Fulton County grand jury which already is investigating other
allegations of police brutality.
There have also been calls for a
permanent committee to look into recurrent charges of abuse of police power and
this possibility should be explored. It is not an original idea with us
and it ought to be checked to see
if it works or fails of its purpose, or perhaps demoralizes the police
department by destroying the lines of authority.
''The best thing to do right now is
continue with the investigation by the grand jury. This is a tried and true and trustworthy
instrument.
In the meanwhile we also might
remember that our system says a man is innocent until proved otherwise, and
that accusations alone are not enough for punishment.
The accusations are in but the investigation is incomplete. Let the champions of tolerance now howling for police blood show their own tolerance by waiting until the investigation proves something one way or another.