Excessive force by police is all about character, or lack of

LET’S GET this straight — the Derek Chauvin case, and similar cases, aren’t about training or policy; they’re about character. We have policing policies and police training. We don’t need thousands of pages more. We need:

■ Excessive force complaints dealt with through terminations and criminal charges;

■ Officers, like those in Minneapolis, who have the guts to stop protecting fellow officers who are wrong;

■ Police chiefs and sheriffs fired who refuse or white wash complaints;

■ Cities, counties and states sued until they start standing up for the public rather than for bad officers and their supervisors;

■ Officers exhibiting bad character fired before they commit criminal acts of excessive force;

■ Officers willing to step in and stop excessive force while it happens;

■ Voters who pay attention to who is on the ballot. Do not vote for elected officials who do not stand up against excessive force, racial profiling, and police misconduct (including) mayor, city council, county commission, sheriff, judges). Get the message, Albuquerque voters?

Locally, we can start by making ... sure Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales does not become our next mayor. We don’t need a mayor who refused to allow his deputies to wear body cameras.

Don’t get me wrong; I absolutely support and appreciate police officers who protect all of us with honor, dedication, high risk and a smile even on a bad day. What I despise and can not support are officers with faulty character (and) bad attitudes, and who use their badge as a bully tool. Neither should you.

JEFFREY PAUL

Albuquerque