From: Richard Knoppow (dickburk@ix.netcom.com)
Date: 09/17/01-08:24:27 PM Z
At 07:36 AM 09/17/2001 -0600, you wrote:
>This is off topic and lengthy. If you don't like it, don't complain, just
>hit "delete".
>
>I feel strongly that Judy's comments cannot stand without a response. I
>have a much different view from 2,200 miles away.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Judy Seigel" <jseigel@panix.com>
>To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
>Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2001 12:20 AM
>Subject: the view from 1.6 miles (thanks Dave!)
>
>
>(SNIP)
>> Firemen have always been the good guys (as opposed to police who have been
>> intermittently very bad guys), rescuing citizens from their/our own
>> silliness and/or a range of disasters.
>
>Thanks to the police, you're not getting mugged when you set foot on the
>streets of Manhattan. The police are NOT "intermittently very bad guys".
>Criminals however, are very bad guys. Heaven forbid you should ever need
>the assistance of police..... maybe then your attitude would change.
>
Dave, I will respond only to the above. Police in New York and Los
Angeles _have_ been very bad guys recently. You need to read more local US
news to understand. The events I am refering to were not isolated but
rather generalized in both departments.
Most cops are pretty honest and decent but there is strong temptation and
they have a lot of power. Political protection or simply lack of care by
citizens have turned some of them from being the protectors of civilized
society to something else.
You may know that very serious scandals involving criminal behaviour and
murder under cover of official duty are under current investigation in both
cities. These are not small time scandals. The Los Angeles one, with which
I am most familiar, has resulted in jail terms for many and will result in
more. It will probably result in a complete re-organization of the
department or its replacement by a merger with the sherriff's department.
In fact, I saw little in Judy's post I disagree with or which, as an
American, I think is very far off the mark. We may both be wrong about
other things but she is right on about how people feel about the cops, at
least in NYC and here.
They may be doing a superb job there, they are capable of it. I am also
completely sympathetic to those who lost their lives in this disaster.
Police and firepeople can be quite wonderful and often are. That makes only
the more appalling when some of them run off the rails.
---- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@ix.netcom.com
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