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Larry Platt: The Daily News: The pro-police, pro-justice newspaper

WE SEEM to be overwhelmed of late with stories of lawmen who are alleged to have broken the law, a phenomenon examined today by Dave Gambacorta in our cover story. Sadly, the trend isn't new to these pages. Reporters Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker won the Pulitzer Prize last year for their coverage of police corruption. And columnist Marc Lamont Hill recently recounted in the Daily News his own experience of "driving while black."

WE SEEM to be overwhelmed of late with stories of lawmen who are alleged to have broken the law, a phenomenon examined today by Dave Gambacorta in our cover story. Sadly, the trend isn't new to these pages. Reporters Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker won the Pulitzer Prize last year for their coverage of police corruption. And columnist Marc Lamont Hill recently recounted in the

Daily News

his own experience of "driving while black."

Our coverage of police misconduct always prompts letters and comments from readers, which is a healthy thing. The Daily News should be a place where many different Philadelphians come together - to talk, to argue, to try to live together.

Some of the rhetoric, however, has been troubling, particularly when it comes from those who should know better. After Hill's column, for example, John McNesby, head of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, publicly lambasted Hill's motives and, on Fox 29 news, dismissed the Daily News as an "anti-cop paper."

When it comes to covering police transgressions, all our coverage - from Hill's column to Laker and Ruderman's reporting to today's cover story - is in keeping with our mission: We're on the side of cops who conduct themselves professionally, and it is out of loyalty to them that we shine a spotlight on those who may have cut corners or abridged civil liberties. When we report on the transgressions of rogue cops, we are not anti-cop; we are pro-justice. And you know who else makes that all-critical distinction? None other than Commissioner Charles Ramsey, whom we begged to spurn Chicago and stay here - in part because of his refreshing commitment to take on the blue code of silence and deal with corruption transparently.

A common complaint about the machinery of journalism is that no one reports on the planes that land safely, the politician who doesn't line his pocket, or the cop who doesn't cross some moral or legal line. I get it. It sometimes seems as if we confuse "news" with "bad news." So it needs to be said, explicitly: The vast majority of Philadelphia police put their lives on the line every day to keep the peace, to protect and defend. They deserve our thanks and respect. But we need to do more than pay them mere lip service. That's why, for 25 years now, the Daily News has presented the George Fencl Award annually to a local officer whose career is worth honoring.

Culling nominations from neighborhoods throughout the city, we celebrate the Fencl recipient for his or her commitment to you as a symbolic way of recognizing all who honorably serve. (The deadline for nominations is May 13; to tell us about a police officer who has positively affected your community, email Lorenzo Biggs at biggsl@phillynews.com or call him at 215-854-5816.)

Although we honor worthy cops, we also have an obligation to give voice to outrage when those entrusted to enforce the law break it. I'm someone who supported stop-and-frisk policing in 2007, but now - as Hill wrote - there are real concerns about an erosion of civil liberties as a result of that policy. Surely, one can express concern or even outrage about that issue without being "anti-cop."

Not long ago, I was reminded of that timeless Richard Pryor routine in which he talks about being pulled over by a white cop. "I AM REACHING INTO MY POCKET FOR MY LICENSE!" he shouts, to howls of recognition from the audience. Many of us, born white and in relative privilege, grew up being told the police were our friends. For others, there remains a troubling element of distrust. On April 6, we ran a photo of a white police officer walking hand-in-hand with an African-American little boy, prompting a letter from reader Ajay Jones: "That photo . . . warmed my heart. . . . [That] the little boy was black and the officer white made the photo that much more. . . . Hopefully the little boy will never be afraid of the police and will grow to know that they are to help and protect us."

Ajay Jones knows we're not at that day yet. And until we are, sunshine being the best disinfectant, we'll continue covering those who contribute to the distrust by violating their oath and those, like the officer in the photo and this year's to-be-named Fencl Award winner, who are a credit to their profession.

Larry Platt is editor of the Daily News.

You can sound off to him at

lplatt@phillynews.com.