posted February 6, 2008
In a city where people are as harsh as what Chattanoogans are towards violaters of the law, I find it very revealing that Commisioner Adams chooses to believe that Sheriff Long was having a mental issue rather than a character issue.
Commissioner Adams said at a commission meeeting Wednesday, "I think something went mentally wrong with Billy Long. We were up here bragging on him last Thursday. I don't think he is a sick person. I don't think he could have fooled all of us that bad."
And again, "Do you think the sheriff would be out here involved in drug sales and taking money unless something was wrong with him? A rational man would know you can't get away with that."
With the recent arrest of an area law enforcement officer for the murder of his wife, another arrest for a jailer smuggling contraband in to the Hamilton County Jail, and the Hamilton County Sheriff himself being arrested, perhaps we should consider another scenario.
Why did the Chattanooga Police Department or the Hamilton County Sheriffs Department not catch Billy Long? Why have so many of our officers in the past few years been charged with serious crimes and fired? Perhaps it is because we have created a monster by not understanding the negative effects on a person of giving them a gun, a badge, and unlimited authority as well as blind trust.
Nationwide it has become evident that for the good of the department and society as well, we should keep a more vigilante eye on their behavior. You can do an officer no greater injustice than to turn him loose on society with absolutely no oversight. It is called keeping an honest man honest. Power does corrupt. Are we so arrogant as Mr. Adams as to believe that we could not possibly err in our policy and in our hiring and electing of police officers, therefore our sheriff must have had a mental lapse in judgment, and not a flawed character that would lend itself to abuse of power.
Should we believe that Sheriff Long, in his 30-something years as an officer, never did anything wrong. If we do, then we are as much to blame as anyone.
Andy Whitwell
Formerly of Chattanooga
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