Johnny Law wronged
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Any sort of blanket statement about an entire group of people is always a bad idea. Not only is it a bad idea, it's ignorant. Saying all blondes are stupid is a pretty stupid statement in itself, as I'm sure there are at least a few blondes who are actually smart.
Hearing that the Seattle Police Department [see "Calling for a crackdown," 6/29] is bad is getting as old and tired as that whole Elian thing. It seems as if it's something people are expected to say because everyone is saying it, and if you don't think Seattle cops are jerks, then you must be some sort of an idiot and against black people or something. I think the whole police thing is out of control. We've developed this 'us against them' mentality and all that's going to do is feed off itself, and the media, until people hate cops for no reason except that they're cops.
I would hate to think the police would shoot a man for no reason. But there was a reason they shot the man on lower Queen Anne; he was threatening peoples' lives, and he did the same thing just the week before. He was clearly a little out there. Yes, he was black, but if some crazy white man had the same criminal resume as this guy, walking down the street with gun in tow, I'm guessing they would have shot him too.
I'm sure there are bad cops, but there are good cops that actually care and don't want to shoot people or pull black drivers over just for the hell of it. Just like there are bad teachers who molest students, there are good teachers who dedicate their lives to teaching and helping children.
The sad thing about this whole deal is that I know good cops and all they want to do is to be Good Cops. All this trashy media coverage and trendy SPD hate is tarnishing the good job they want to do, which is to protect good people, which is the reason why they wanted to be a cop in the first place. Yes, the Seattle Police should be monitored, just like we all are at our own jobs, but how about working on changing the stigma that the police are the enemy, just like we should change the stigma that all black men are criminals? Let's not be so stupid to think that EVERYONE in one group is bad and EVERYONE in the other is a victim.
KENZIE
SEATTLE
Policing the police
In regard to Geov Parrish's cover story "Who will watch the cops?" ["Calling for a crackdown," 6/29] I am acquainted with a retired former SPD officer, who is a decent, moral, church-going man. Yet while he will admit that the NYPD officers who shot Amadou Diallo were more than a bit careless with their guns, he becomes defensive whenever the local media becomes overly aggressive in chronicling police misdeeds and leaving the impression that the police are people who find a bit too much enjoyment in the exercise of lethal power. While I myself have little liking for police in general, having been the target of "profiling" on more occasions than it is good for me to think upon overmuch, I will grant that most police officers are not, in fact, by nature bigoted thugs.
Still, the problem as I see it is this: that the police have become so entrenched in their siege mentality that they have lost, if they ever had it, the ability to police themselves. How often have we seen the police circle the wagons around a fellow officer who has committed a crime or used unnecessary violence? The SPD and other departments have repeatedly demonstrated that they themselves cannot be trusted to root out, discipline, or remove officers who are unfit by temperament to wear the badge. While certain segments of the population rather approve of the tactics the police employ against the "elements," the majority of the citizenry finds itself at the mercy of an unaccountable police force that obeys no rules— despite the fact that they are paid to uphold the law, not break it, with the tax dollars of the citizenry. That latter alone should be grounds enough for independent civilian oversight.
The bottom line is that police are solely responsible for the way they are perceived and the lack of trust they embody. The post-Stamper SPD promises to be even more reactionary, with the bad apples running the show—or rather, the "good" cops letting them run it.
MARK KITTELL
SEATTLE
The business of news
Kenneth Gouldthorpe's "The death of Life" [6/29] is on the money in more ways than one. As the public turns increasingly to Internet and TV "infotainment" for its media diet, the virtues of old-school journalism are getting trounced for the love of commerce. Fast-track news that simultaneously shocks and inspires us to buy the item du jour has become the status quo. Room for probing, sensitive reporting seems tight to me, a former documentary studies student turned media advisor bathed in the rectitude of "the decisive moment."
