The Atlanta Police Department was plagued with institutional problems in 1913. First, the population of Atlanta had grown rapidly in the first decade of the century, and the small, ill-trained police force was not equipped to deal with rapid urbanization. Corruption in the police force allowed officers to get away with rampant brutality; they were known for framing and setting up others to take the fall for crooked cops. 

 

This brutality was usually directed at Atlanta's black citizens. In 1915, Atlanta police arrested more than twice as many African-Americans as they did whites, and at least one black man had been beaten to death by police. 

 

In addition, policed had failed to solve 17 murders of young African-American women from 1911-1913, the two years before Mary Phagan's death. These together paint the picture of a police force who is inept at best and violent, brutal, and corrupt at worst. 

​

Since the time of the trial, there have been suspicions about the methods used to obtain witness statements in the Frank trial. Lucille Frank accused Hugh Dorsey of using torture tactics against witnesses in May of 1913, and C.P. Connolly's 1915 account of the trial confirms this. Connolly writes: 

 

"Every one who attempted to tell the truth in [Frank's] favor was browbeaten. His stenographer was subjected to rigid cross-examination and repeatedly told to be careful about what she swore to"

​

Several of the affidavits obtained by Atlanta police were later recanted, and those that were not—including the five conflicting ones submitted by Jim Conley—faced serious scrutiny from Frank's supporters. Despite this qualms, however, several notable Atlanta figures and the majority of white working Atlantans remained convinced of Frank's guilt.