Читать книгу Good Cop/Bad Cop - Rebecca Cofer - Dartt - Страница 9

PREFACE

The Harris family tragedy and its aftermath takes us beyond the edge of evil into the heart of darkness that shows us how a depraved man can act and how that brand of wanton terror can leave us with permanent scars of suspicion and vulnerability. The story and all its horror reflects many of contemporary society’s problems—racist attitudes, friction between the poor and wealthy, as well as humanity’s oldest sins of mendacity, lust, and revenge.

When I started gathering material, this was to be the story of the Harris family murders, how they sent terror through our quiet college town in upstate New York two days before Christmas in 1989, and how the crimes were solved by the state police in only six and a half weeks. But just as I finished my first draft of the manuscript, a completely unexpected revelation came to light which dramatically changed the thrust of the story. The case was catapulted into widespread notoriety, exposing the deception of one primary police investigator and his partner. Their duplicity put the Harris investigation and the practices of police everywhere into question.

GOOD COP/BAD COP is a primarily factual account of events as they evolved from December 1989 to December 1992. The incidents and dialogue are based upon over fifty interviews with police, lawyers, educators and the neighbors, friends and family of the characters, as well as input from numerous court records and newspaper articles.

Shirley Kinge, Sallie Reese, and Joanna White refused requests for interviews. Since Michael Kinge was dead, information was obtained from those willing to talk with me, officials and public documents.

Only in a few instances have the names of individuals been changed to protect their privacy. Additional incidents and dialogue have been deduced from known facts, interviews with police, lawyers, educators and neighbors, friends and family of the characters, as well as input from numerous court records and newspaper articles.

The randomness and brutality of the murders plunged Ithaca into a new era. No longer do we leave our doors unlocked or freely offer help to strangers. The Kinge case, the Harding case, and their aftermath have changed our assumptions about the criminal justice system. The lies of police officers are a firm reminder that individual integrity forms the core of our faith in any law enforcement organization and when it is corrupted, faith fails.

Real justice finally prevailed only after a tortuous journey through specious justice, public cynicism, racism, mass disillusionment and private burdens. We witnessed an example of clumsy democracy in slow-motion. Not pretty, but better than the alternatives.

Rebecca H. Cofer