Tracknum: 2298.466434f6.11243.fd7e04a Pubdate: Tue, 22 May 2007 Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA) Copyright: 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Contact: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/letters/sendletter.html Website: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28 Author: Bill Torpy, Atlanta J-C Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n549/a03.html PENNINGTON REPLACES ATLANTA NARCOTICS UNIT 14 New Investigators And Three Sergeants To Begin Work May 29 Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington on Tuesday announced he will replace all members of the department's embattled narcotics squad, aiming to regain the public's trust less than a month after two squad members pleaded guilty to killing 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston in a botched raid. "With new initiatives on the way to help restore confidence in the unit, we felt it important to start anew," Pennington said at an afternoon news conference, reading from a prepared statement. He's put 14 new investigators and three sergeants in the narcotics unit, with plans to have a staff of 30 by year's end. Lt. William Trivelpiece takes over the narcotics unit. His responsibilities will include the redevelopment of the training standards of the unit to include adopting best practices of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the FBI. "The personnel changes within the narcotics unit should in no way reflect upon the unit members who did their jobs with integrity and dedication," Pennington said. The officers formerly in the narcotics unit will be assigned. All changes take place May 29. The moves are part of wide-ranging staffing shifts within the department involving 140 officers. Another notable change is the shift of Maj. Welcome Harris from overseeing the Office of Professional Standards, which investigates complaints about officers, to the major-crimes unit. While operating the office charged with enforcing the ethical standards of police officers, Harris and three of his lieutenants were found to have submitted nearly identical reports to justify their perk of getting city-paid, take-home cars. Deputy Chief Carlos Banda said in an interview recently that he saw a pattern in the reporting what days the cars were needed when he was "looking at take-home vehicles to make sure our policy was good and everything was in compliance. I got a list of take-home cars and noticed there was a problem where all were the same." Banda said he discussed the issue with Harris, and he also alerted Pennington's top aide. Banda said he doesn't know whether the chief was informed. No other action was taken, though Pennington has vowed to fire any officer caught lying. "For the most part, we don't know if it was intentional or unintentional, " Banda said. "But we put them on notice these forms have to be done correctly. Bottom line was, a lot of times these forms had been done [this way] year after year and people got into the habit.