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Atlanta Police Admit Mistakes in Brian Nichols' Case

Atlanta police admit a number of heavy duty mistakes in the search for alleged courthouse shooter Brian Nichols.

How the suspect was able to slip out of an area that was swarming with police and clogged with traffic is a question that has puzzled observers and embarrassed law enforcement for the past week.

Valuable time and resources were lost because police were searching the roads most of the day for a green Honda allegedly stolen by the suspect during his escape, Pennington admitted. The car was found late that night in the very garage from where it had been taken. The garage had not been searched.

Understatement of the year:

"We should have gone through the entire building," Pennington said at a news conference in Atlanta on Friday.

In addition,

The police chief would not say how Nichols was able to flee downtown, but investigators believe that he boarded a subway and traveled to a fashionable nightclub and shopping district. Miscommunication with other law enforcement agencies had also added to the confusion and chaos immediately following the shooting, said Pennington, who promised to conduct a full review of the department's response to the incident.

The Atlanta police chief said on CNN's Larry King Live (March 11) that he had been out of town the morning of the shootings. Was there a protocol set up for crises that occur during such times? Was he reachable by phone? How soon did he return? Did he clearly delegate authority?

Will heads roll in Atlanta? I think they should. The failure to communicate and failure to seal off the area speaks volumes about the city's lack of preparedness in the event of a terrorist attack. If they couldn't catch one guy like Brian Nichols, how would they cope with a team attack?

A few weeks ago when the Capitol Hill rapist was terrorizing Denver, and it later turned out police from nearby Aurora, CO had failed to respond to emails and telephone calls that would have resulted in an arrest warrant being issued for the suspect, heads rolled. The City Manager and Deputy City Manager of Aurora both were suspended. The police chief resigned.

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    Re: Atlanta Police Admit Mistakes in Brian Nichols (none / 0) (#1)
    by Kitt on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 05:30:30 PM EST
    No sh*t - especially the garage. I can't remember what news program, CNN, I think that a woman reporter with some FBI dude talked about that huge oversight. The same day this happened, I watched the beginning of 'Patriot Games' with Harrison Ford. The IRA gunners who attacked whomever so that Ford's character got involved, were able to get away because they were leaving as the police were arriving. It's that state of utter chaos when no one knows anything about what's going on.

    law enforcement, in general, everywhere, continues to demonstrate their absolute incompetence, unless of course theres drug money involved, then the set-up commences and everything was by the numbers. were lost!

    Well that is what race influence/based policing will do for you, for well over 30 years in order for that government to work it has be run be race laws and i don't mean white race laws. do the research don't be sheeple in a world of mass murder.