In the crystal ball I see … a PR campaign for Pennington
July 23, 2007 at 4:09 pm by John F. Sugg in NewsI closed out a June 27 cover story on the problems facing Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington by predicting (based on City Hall sources) that Mayor Shirley Franklin would ramp up a public relations campaign in August for the top cop. The mayor’s spokesman refused to say “yes” or “no” to my questions about the campaign. I turned out to be on target. Franklin and Pennington are kicking off an image-polishing campaign with a town hall meeting Aug. 11 at 8:30 a.m. at the Georgia Power corporate HQ auditorium, 241 Ralph McGill Boulevard.
The mayor has steadfastly defended Pennington amid disclosures of sinking morale among the police, charges of cronyism and favoritism — and, following the Nov. 21 killing of a 92-year-old woman by detectives, allegations by the U.S. attorney’s office that a “culture of misconduct” exists in the APD. Franklin has based her support of Pennington on crime statistics that trended downward during the first years of her tenure. Now, however, the number of crimes are heading up, and many citizens feel we’re in the midst of a crime wave.
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