Police Should Stand Up With The Wrong Man

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Wednesday’s Janeville Gazette seemed to go to great lengths explaining there was no conflict of information between the Janesville Police Department and the county DA’s office regarding the arrest and subsequent release of Antonio Polland, the first suspect in the recent rape and robbery case.
The Tuesday Gazette headline DA: Rape suspect cleared led many readers to believe that the county DA overrode the city police department’s release order’s extra restrictions.

As a reader following this awful crime, I never felt there was a dispute between the two departments. What seemed odd was the fact that the police department felt good enough to release the innocent man on a recognizance bond late Monday afternoon, but felt threatened enough for public safety to issue special restrictions such as electronic monitoring and no contact with juveniles. The Gazette meanwhile added to that foundation with this in Tuesday's paper.

JG Excerpt:
O’Leary’s (DA) decision to free Polland this morning followed a surprising second press conference called by police Monday afternoon. In that meeting, Moore said police had asked O’Leary to release Polland but with strict bond conditions and pending charges.

O’Leary did release Polland but…..

JG Excerpt:
O’Leary’s decision today eliminated any pending charges, the bond and it’s conditions.

Which gave O’Leary’s decision (about the restrictions) the appearance it was exclusive from the police department.

In Wednesday’s paper, the police chief claims he called O’Leary Tuesday morning and ordered Polland to be released unconditionally. This was information absent from Tuesday’s article.

The initial order to release with conditions does seem suspicious, allowing authorities to keep Polland on the hook and leave the door open for charges and surveillance against an innocent man. While the later order to release unconditionally seemed to coincide with the arrest of Kenneth Jarrett, the identified perpetrator. I hate to think this - that fortunately for Polland the evidence found was another suspect.

Missing from Gazette articles and the police chief’s timeline were reports of Polland being tasered during his arrest in front of four small children.

JG Excerpt:
Mahan and a detective visited Polland on Tuesday afternoon to explain why he was wrongly arrested.

In hindsight, these are reasons why I think someone owes Polland a public apology and not an explanation, regardless of his attitude at the time of arrest.

It's not a question of whether arresting the first suspect was the "right thing" or apologizing for doing your job. It's a matter of your dignity and his humility. Other than that, the Janesville Police did an outstanding job getting the perpetrator of this ugly and life-changing violent crime quickly off the streets.