In his summary of Jerry Bledsoe’s latest Cops in Blacks and White installment, Guarino says “Bledsoe provides yet more evidence that the city legal office and the city manager’s office behaved in a shoddy manner; and of course, the City Council played along.”
I read this installment with interest because we finally get Deputy Chief Randall Brady’s version of his Nov. 22, 2005 interview with Risk Management Associates, which City Manager Mitchell Johnson and his supporters cite as evidence there really is a “black book.” But if go back and read the transcript of the interview that the city released, you’ll notice an interesting omission in Bledsoe’s account that could bring his credibility into question.
As Bledsoe recounts it, Brady told RMA president Michael Longmire in the interview about an incident in which either Tom Fox or Scott Sanders asked Brady
for help in getting photo lineups made in the case in which a prostitute had accused an on-duty black officier of molesting her.
After lengthy questioning about this process, Longmire finally asked, “Do you know that the lineups were created?”
“Yes,” said Brady.
“OK. How do you know that?”
“I was shown the book….”
“And who showed you that book?”
“Sergeant Fox.”
“And where is that book now?” Longmire asked.
“In the trunk of my car,” Brady explained.
But there’s a problem with Bledsoe’s account of the interview. The actual transcript of the interview released by the city reads differently from Bledsoe’s version. What’s missing from Bledsoe’s account is in bold:
Longmire: Do you know that the lineups were created?
Brady: Yes.
Longmire: OK, How do you know that?
Brady: I was shown the book once the tracker was found and the allegations of a black book came up.
Longmire: And who showed you that book?
Brady: Segeant Fox.
Longmire: And where is that book now?
Brady: In the trunk of my car.
This is key, because Brady’s mention of the “tracker” indicates that the black book is related to something other than the case involving a prostitute’s claim of assault by a black officer. The fact that Bledsoe omitted the tracker shows he was concerned the interview didn’t make his case, either.
All that said, though, when you read the transcript, it’s still clear that RMA was trying to link the black book to the investigation of James Hinson and Brady is trying his best to tell them that the book was created in response to the prostitute’s allegations against a black officer. Brady makes that clear one more time, in an exchange Bledsoe notes word-for-word in his account:
Longmire: So, prior to getting your hands on this book of photo lineups, did you know that Scooter used that book to show to prostitutes and drug dealers —the photographs in there in there to try to identify who might have been involved in criminal activity? Is that what you thought the black book was used for?
Brady: No sir. I thought the book was used as a photographic lineup for the female prostitute that made the allegation of assault.
Note Longmire’s was question very open-ended. The book was indeed going to be shown to a prostitute to identify someone (a police officer) who might be involved in criminal activity (an assault). But Brady didn’t bite. He made sure to note exactly which case the photo lineup was going to used for. Give him credit.
I can’t say Bledsoe’s selective editing helps his credibility, yet another reminder of just how crazy and convoluted the Wray affair is. But the bottom line is the case that a black book was created for the express purposee of targeting black police officers still hasn’t been made. And that sure doesn’t help Mitchell Johnson’s credibility.
