The below is a letter to the editors of the EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE,
as originally written by one of their readers. It says a great deal about the actual sources of violence and death in the East Valley of the Sun.
...
Sent: 11/10 10:51: 50 AM Subject: police shootings/letters to editor E.V. TRIBUNE
Contrasting letters in the Tribune opinion section (A21) on Saturday November 9th by Charles Russell of Mesa and Ken Hackenberg of Chandler should send chills down the spine of every citizen in these beleaguered communities.
Has NO ONE read the Constitution of the United States? Suspects—those the police are detaining or questioning—are NOT criminals. The declaration that they are involves courts, juries, and judges.indeed, very, very few individuals questioned or suspected by police wind up going "through the system."
Executing or assassinating them on the spot, from the rear, is the criminal act of a gutless coward, completely outside the law, particularly when the perceived offense is so minor. If a "law enforcement" agency desires to lose entirely the respect and honor of the community it purports to serve, bloody murder exonerated by the corrupt is the very best way to do so.
The erroneous and vicious announcement by a police union official that "shooting people" is in officers' job descriptions is equally flawed, and equally dishonorable.
It is one thing when an armed suspect who has offered blatant resistance is gunned down, especially if it is in an area where there is little danger of injuring bystanders.
An unarmed, upset, frightened, middle-class 35-year-old female, with her baby inches from the path of a bullet? Whether or not she was guilty of anything at all, we do not know; we do not even know for sure whether Officer Lovelace is guilty of anything. What we do know for sure is that something horribly inappropriate and ugly happened.
I, myself, have looked into the barrels of police shotguns for such "suspicious" acts as backing my car in a huge, public parking lot, to test my brake lights.
Deadly weapons are used by police in these venues entirely too casually. Crime is rising in the East Valley again. I see evidence of crack use, ecstasy distribution, and methamphetamine manufacture almost every day... But most of the police effort and "presence" I see is in cars, far away from the action, where the fines and "clearances" are.
Simple fact: had a citizen done such acts, two tiers
removed—that is, used firearms for a much more dangerous form of real self-defense, even against an armed opponent, without even actually discharging his firearm—his treatment would be extremely harsh. And if a citizen used his weapon to kill someone because "he was scared", he or she would never again walk free.
And if a bystander was frightened or, God forbid, killed, there would be a litany of felony charges.
It has been a very long time since an East Valley police officer was seriously injured by a suspect. Their policy is to shoot very early on. There are no physical confrontations, just gunfire. They claim the streets are very dangerous, and I am inclined to agree. Many of these "police" are, in fact, the VERY REASON for the genuine danger here.
I have heard a great deal about the "thin blue line", but the line here is red, and it is citizen's blood being shed.
An executioner's job description is somewhat different than a police officer's.
Nowhere in either does the word "gunslinger" appear. How about adding the words -culpability & responsibility-, and not just to internal, departmental smoke screens?
J.L.
Mesa, Arizona
0 comments