CRIME AND PUNISHMENT?
Readers debate what’s driving lawlessness and what can turn things around
Soft-on-criminals leaders are ones who got us here
READING THE Journal and listening to the news, it seems that Albuquerque citizens are fed up with the crime rate. In order to understand what is happening, we must examine the ingredients. What is meant is that if a delicious-sounding meal is being prepared, but spoiled/rotten ingredients are being used, the result will be awful.
In the case of the crime rate, we continue to elect politicians and judges who are soft on crime, i.e. we are a sanctuary city, and then complain that the crime rate is too high. Your votes can turn the situation around.
JACK HERTZ Albuquerque
Feds hung NM officer out to dry on deadly stop
THE DEPARTMENT of Justice comes into cities and counties and demands local police be transparent. That local cops need to be open and responsive to the community they serve. That local cops need to record interviews and interactions with all citizens. But what does the DOJ require from their own cops — U.S. Marshals, DEA, Homeland Security, ATF, FBI, etc? None of it.
The Washington Post recently reported on how the DOJ still does not require the FBI to record interviews and how body cameras are nonexistent on DOJ law enforcement officers. The DOJ is a bunch of hypocrites, demanding of local cops what they refuse to require for their own.
Now we have N.M. State Police officer Darian Jarrott, brutally gunned down by a known drug runner while doing a traffic stop for Homeland Security. What does the DOJ say about this? Nothing. It refuses to answer any questions surrounding the events that cost officer Jarrott his life.
Jarrott’s widow has now retained Albuquerque attorney Sam Bregman to get to the truth of how and why her husband was (killed) on Interstate 10 while Homeland Security officers (were not present) to help him, (but arrived shortly after he was shot). This is the transparency we get from the feds. A do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do, attitude that it shoves down the throats of local law enforcement.
It is my own personal belief the DOJ has a quiet mandate for its law enforcement officers not to get into a use-of-force situation. Call in the local cops to do their dirty work, but by all means we don’t want federal police shooting or fighting with people, that would look horrible in the eyes of the media. Why? Because the DOJ presents itself as the overseers who can do no wrong. The DOJ makes sure its cops don’t actually do the dirty part of police work, so that its civil rights division can come in and point a crooked finger at the local cops who do.
I hope Bregman exposes the entire hypocrisy of the DOJ. The public deserves to know the truth about officer Jarrott and why the DOJ Homeland Security had him stop a car that it should have stopped. DANIEL KLEIN Albuquerque
US, NM statistics prove incarceration no solution
LOCK THEM up. The Journal has published a lot of editorials and letters recently bemoaning our “catch-and-release” criminal justice system. Everyone (including the Journal editorial board) seems to think Albuquerque’s crime problem stems from a failure to incarcerate quickly and lengthily. Take a step back: The United States incarcerates its citizens at the highest rate in the world — by far. N.M.’s incarceration rate is slightly higher than the national average, therefore one of the highest rates in the world. And yet, criminals continue to commit crimes, lots of them. The obvious inference is that incarceration is not the solution to this problem. This leads to a very uncomfortable question: Then what is the solution? Perhaps the Journal should devote some ink to that question.
PAUL DAVID Albuquerque
Gun, Taser unwarranted for mere traffic violation
DAUNTE WRIGHT is dead, and resigned police officer Kim Potter is dead wrong. Even a Taser, were one used, could have proven fatal. If a “suspect” for a dangling car freshener or an expired license attempts to drive away, shoot the tires, not the driver. Attempting to leave the scene does not warrant being killed. MICHAEL BARON
Corrales
APD officers do hard job and deserve our respect
I OFFER MY personal apology to all of our Albuquerque Police Department officers. It’s a real shame that the current people in power are not standing up for you as you perform one of the most difficult jobs today. You catch flak from all sides; your leadership, your political leaders, the independent monitor, and most sadly, the people you risk your lives to serve and protect. Well, I am one recipient of your service and protection who does appreciate what you do. Thank you to everyone at APD. You have my respect and my trust.
KEN LONG Albuquerque
Don’t criminalize those who are suffering in pain
LAW AND medicine share the same inversion of justice that one is guilty until proven innocent.
As far back as I can remember, especially in the Black community of Detroit, Michigan, every person of color was and is presumed guilty of something and therefore treated as a criminal, sometimes with brutal disregard for life and humanity.
Over the years, too, and more recently, the “opiate epidemic” has spawned the same mentality of presumptive guilt and medical criminality without due process of reason or benefit of doubt for patients with chronic pain. Most patients are presumed guilty of drug seeking, misuse or abuse. The clashing reality and dilemma of opiate deaths and dismal pain management point to providers who are either burned out, ignorant, apathetic and for some, racially, socially and culturally biased. The irony lies in the fact that most providers are resistant to patients’ pleas even when there are established guidelines for safe administration and surveillance of these pain medications. Too often, unreasonable fear of board sanctions pushes compassion and empathy aside, leaving the patient to bear the stigma of a medical criminal. Do I have an answer? No. But I do have a voice and a choice to be more understanding and compassionate as a physician. I know my patients. I hear my patients. If there will be change it must come from the top. A return to humanity must start in the medical schools, flow through the clinics and specialty offices and reshape the ways rules and decisions about care delivery is made. Stop criminalizing those who are suffering beyond the imagination of you who have no pain.
DR. ROBERT GARDNER Rio Rancho
Obey officers so everyone ultimately goes home alive
THE POLICE stop you. What should you do? Everything you’re told. You want to go home to your family, and so does the police officer. Do not resist; it makes them think you are guilty. If you’re afraid, then going to jail will protect you. Usually video can prove you’re right.
Common sense tells us that whether your children are Black, white, Brown, … you need to “Teach your Children Well.” If your child goes to jail, they go to jail alive. Resisting only makes the officer think you are guilty of something.
This lesson applies to all people, not just children. Look at the encounters and show me one where the person that followed directions was shot and killed. If experienced officers are making mistakes, due to long hours and stress, now imagine that we put policing in the hands of rookie officers. Police officers are retiring or quitting at alarming rates. Defund the police? This can’t end well.
Examine most of the encounters that lead to death. When you try to take the officer’s weapon, you have just confirmed they need to subdue you with any means they can. Now their actions determine life or death. Difficult for anyone. How many officers won’t go home to their children tonight? How many children won’t be going home to their parents?
All lives matter. Fact: Police make mistakes; don’t be one of them. Have this discussion now. “Teach your children well.”
JIM BELL Albuquerque