Be pro cop, but within reason

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To the editor,

Howard Ring, in a rather verbose manner, makes the simple but correct point that most cops do their job well on a daily basis. But what he neglects is that those who don’t are not being held accountable.

Ron Kuby once said on the “Curtis and Kuby Show,” “Ninety percent of cops are honest and hard working. But the other 10 percent are literally getting away with murder.”

This is an exaggeration, since statistics don’t support that there have been even close to 3,450 murders committed by the NYPD. But if the 10 percent are mostly guilty of racist assaults, harassment and arrests for minor illegalities that they don’t bother white people about, then that is still a major problem.

But when there is a murder — and that’s what anybody who is not a racist and/or a blind supporter of police would have to call what happened to Eric Garner — then the officer should be indicted and tried. There can be no justification for keeping a hold around the neck and not releasing it until the 11th time Garner says, “I can’t breathe.”

Now the Ferguson, Missouri case is less clear, since there is no video. But considering the conflicting testimony from different witnesses, it is fair to say that the case should have gone to trial. Then the witnesses could have been publicly cross-examined and a more credible decision could have been made on whether or not Officer Darren Wilson was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Being pro-cop should be a non-issue. I’m pro-cop and I believe they are outrageously underpaid. I fully support officers who out of necessity shoot and kill suspects in order to save the lives of victims or their own lives. This support is regardless of the color of the suspect.

But being pro-cop doesn’t mean I will support criminals who have badges. I certainly don’t root for fictional ones when they go up against John Wayne in movies such as “The War Wagon,” “Chisum” and “Rio Lobo.” Likewise, I will not support the real life ones.

Richard Warren

Ferguson, NYPD, Richard Warren

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