Editor: It is easy to criticize the police, (letter by A. Crawford, The Times, Jan. 19), as we sit in our cozy offices and homes.
It’s hard not to when the only time we see them in the news is in a negative way.
Police are people who have stepped up and said “Yes, I will put my life on the line to serve and protect my community.” They deal with terrible events on a daily basis. They deal with shaken babies, with deaths at daycares.
Put yourself in their places. How would you feel about letting a family know their loved one has been in an accident, or murdered? How would you feel about having a loaded weapon aimed at you?
Dealing with a succession of these types of cases does take a toll. These men and women believe in the law, in justice and that people should be protected from violence. Someone has to do it, or we would live in sheer chaos.
I am not excusing the bad apples who show up in police ranks on occasion. I am not justifying the kicking of a Kelowna man in the face. But we all know it would not have made headlines if it was one civilian kicking another.
The Robert Dziekanski death at the Vancouver Airport was a terrible tragedy, and is a black mark on the RCMP’s reputation, but it does not define who they are or what they stand for.
What about the Mayerthorpe incident? Four Canadian families were affected.
We never see the good the police do. We don’t see the abusive spouse or parent they take in, the kids they steer away from drugs, or the potential lives they save by taking drunk drivers off the street.
Amy J. Huff,
Cloverdale