Alabama Revisited

Family members of the shooting victims have begun speaking up. Not surprisingly the focus is on the type of investigation done or not done by the University before they hired the shooter. It should not have taken these killings to convince an employer of the necessity to conduct a pre-employment background.

"I think they need to do a little more investigation when coming down to hiring teachers and things like that. Maybe looking a little deeper into their past about certain things. This is a lot coming out. ... It's a shocker," said Melissa Davis, whose stepmother was Maria Ragland Davis, on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday. (LA Times 2/15/10).

Apparently, the professor while at Harvard was investigated for sending a pipe bomb to a faculty member there. The FBI and ATF obtained a search warrant to search her house. As in the shooting of her brother, no charges were forthcoming after that search. That case remains unsolved.

The current police chief of the police department that was called when she shot her brother is questioning how the investigation was handled, saying that charges most definitely would be brought under his watch.

I think this case is rapidly leading to a national dialogue on the importance of investigation. Not just pre-employment and what types of records should be accessible, but also how criminal investigations are conducted too. Good. These discussions are long overdue.