Pubdate: Sun, 28 Aug 2005
Source: Muskogee Daily Phoenix (OK)
Copyright: 2005 Muskogee Daily Phoenix
Contact: http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3319
Note: Editorials in "Editorially speaking" are the institutional opinions 
of the Muskogee Daily Phoenix's six-member Editorial Board.

BAD COP, JAILERS TARNISH THE LAW

It's disappointing that in the last couple weeks, an officer and jailer in 
Cherokee County and two jail employees in Muskogee County have been accused 
of and charged with crimes.

Yet it's encouraging area law enforcement didn't ignore accusations against 
fellow workers or look away, but followed up with investigations and quick 
dismissals of the four from their respective departments.

In Muskogee County, Stacy Lynn Gray, 26, and Shelley Ford, 39, were charged 
in connection with an assault by four inmates on another inmate. The two 
women face a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to inmates.

In Cherokee County, Glyn Ryals, 21, and Lynn McClain Trammel, 20, face drug 
charges after an investigation by a district attorney investigator and the 
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Charges against Ryals include 
felony drug possession.

The four have lost their jobs, but if found guilty, they should be punished 
as severely as possible. When those in authority abuse the inherent powers 
of their positions, they show contempt for the very law they are authorized 
to enforce.

No one is above the law, and sometimes law enforcement agencies are forced 
to prove it by jailing their own.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman