University of Virginia Library

Attorney General Skeptical

One after another we described
some aspect of the police action.
The response was the same each
time. Either the Attorney General
or his assistant would assume a look
of total disbelief and pose questions
for us which were little more than
slightly veiled attacks on our
willingness to adhere to the truth.

What was it that we wanted?
The immediate indictment of scores
of police? The firing of the State
Police Chief? A complete and
unequivocal apology from the
Attorney General? No, merely a
promise to look into the situation
in depth and possibly to conduct an
investigation of the events that had
transpired during those few days in
May. All we wanted was an
opportunity to be heard.

Our naivete must have
overwhelmed the Attorney General.
He must deal with the State Police
on a regular basis and was clearly
not about to enter into a tense
situation when he could easily
remain out of the ballgame.
Especially when the request to do
something came from a group of
college students and a Catholic
priest!

Secondly, any officer holder
with ambition for higher political
office, as one may assume Mr.
Miller is, would be foolhardy to
enter into a politically sensitive if
not unpopular endeavor. One might
suspect that the majority of the
people of Virginia would not look
with much favor upon an
investigation of the police, unless to
determine why they acted with
such restraint.