Editor:
In reference to the article by Thadeus Greenson about the hiring difficulties of the Eureka police department, I believe the solution to the hiring dilemma for the police is pretty simple: Police salaries should be increased by a considerable amount (“Help Wanted,” Oct. 7).
But only if police departments henceforward refuse to hire bigots and bullies. It is insane to put guns in the hands of the worst among us. By what means can anyone justify allowing such individuals to make life-or-death decisions among people whom they already despise?
If police departments across the U.S. would just refuse categorically to hire bigots or bullies, that would go a long way toward restoring public respect for officers of the law. Nor is it hard to determine whether a person is a bigot or a bully.
I suspect that if police departments took such action, they would find themselves swamped with qualified applicants. As matters stand now, no self-respecting person wants the job.
Of course, for such sweeping changes to occur, all the bigots and bullies who are already in positions of power in police departments, legally allied offices or police unions would first have to be at least defanged, and if at all possible, removed.
And since the principal occupation of the current Republican party is the defense of the indefensible, I suppose most of them must be voted out of office as well.
Jack Butler, Eureka
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This article appears in Deaths at Chemawa.
Go back and look at all of law enforcement’s wrongful shootings…they’re mostly veterans.
Veterans hiring veterans…watching each others backs just like war, which is what they call it.
They’re not just bigots, they’re haters, calling the local fire victims “burnouts”.
Why are we giving them preference in hiring without careful psychological testing?
“Which is what they call it”? The veterans went and go to war and have never gotten our support like they deserve. It is no different with most of the police officers they don’t get the support they deserve. They put their lives on the line for a bunch of ungrateful people. Its no wonder that some get filled with hate and become bitter.