Letter writer gave officers a bad rap

Irespond to the Sunday letter “Politics has no time for etiquette” from Andrew Kennedy. He opined of Democrats, “If they are fighting to stop trigger-happy police from executing our neighbors in the street, they can wear white after Labor Day.” Even if not published the day after two outstanding Westerville police officers were killed while responding to a cry for help, this irrational, inflammatory and irresponsible statement is very sad.

Kennedy certainly had no control over the timing of the tragic events on Saturday. No doubt studies would show a large majority of interactions between police and “our neighbors” end with no one getting hurt and no level of force being used by the officer.

In the rare instances when a level of force is used, it is overwhelmingly the result of the person with whom the officer is interacting deciding to exhibit some level of noncompliance and/or resistance to lawful orders from the officer.

Having recently retired from a law-enforcement position and having actually investigated allegations of excessive force by officers, I can state with confidence that most officers who use force, even deadly force, do so with legal justification based on the actions of “our neighbors.”

I would ask Kennedy and others who share his view to put at least some of the responsibility for use-offorce incidents where it belongs, with members of the public when interacting with police. To officers Anthony Morelli and Eric Joering, thank you for your service.

Mark Ranck, Columbus