When DA doesn’t consider an officer reliable, should public know?

When Larry Krasner took over as Philadelphia’s district attorney in January last year, the office was full of filing cabinets from the previous administration. In them, his staff found a red folder with the words “damaged goods” written on the front.

Those "damaged goods" were Philadelphia police officers with histories of misconduct that could render them problematic as witnesses in court. Mr. Krasner, who took office after a 30-year career as a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer in the city, was not impressed.

“In my opinion that list was nothing more than window dressing,” he says. “In no way was it a sweeping attempt to get at the truth” of the breadth of police misconduct and untruthfulness in the city.

Since then his office has been