Consider the case of Cpl. Keith Washington of the Prince George’s County, Maryland Police Department. From an editorial in today’s Washington Post:

In incident after incident over the years, on duty and off, including ones involving his daughter, his homeowners association and a fender bender that he was investigating, Cpl. Washington is alleged to have exhibited rough, menacing or violent behavior, often in response to seemingly ordinary circumstances. Three years ago he was suspended from the police force for an off-duty scuffle. Now, using his service weapon, a 9mm Beretta, he has shot two unarmed Marlo employees who were delivering a bed set to his home; both were apparently hit multiple times.

So what’s happened to him? Criminal charges? Not yet. Termination? Nope. Read on:

Given what is known about his past, and his repeated problems with anger management, you’d think Prince Georgians might justifiably be nervous . . .

But not Jack Johnson, the Prince George’s county executive. Mr. Johnson is an old associate and booster of Cpl. Washington’s, having hired him first as his driver and then, two years ago, as his deputy director of homeland security, despite public warnings about Cpl. Washington’s checkered past, volcanic temper and tendency to turn routine encounters into tempestuous ones. Now that Cpl. Washington has killed one man and badly injured another, Mr. Johnson says the officer will not be returning to his position in the county department of homeland security. Well, that’s comforting. Less comforting, however, is Mr. Johnson’s prescription — that Cpl. Washington resume work as a police officer.

He’s currently on administrative leave, but he remains a certified police officer, and able to carry a weapon.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 at 8:15 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Police Professionalism, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.