Police labeled ‘wrong’ no matter what they do

The Day printed a Washington Post article, “Police criticized for slow response” (Aug. 13), strongly condemning police failure to respond quickly enough to escalating tensions preceding the racially charged Charlottesville riot. One observation: “Anger over how the police responded came from all directions…”

I spat my breakfast tea out when I read that one. For years now cops deemed excessively forceful are crucified, but when the shoe is on the other foot they’re excoriated for not being bold enough. Incredibly, this on a scene where two heroic state cops sacrificed their lives in a tragic helicopter crash.

Contemporary cops are akin to 20th-century U.S. Army draftees forever humbled as “Wrong!” no matter what they say or do. Whereas that incessant harassment stripped conscriptees of their individuality to better forge them into combat cohesiveness, today’s cop persecutions by contrast instead produce a deadly paralytic “Damned if we do and damned if we don’t” instinct in law enforcement ranks.

Anyone familiar with spontaneous violence knows it provokes a welter of confusion roiling even the coolest heads. America’s handcuffing of our solitary public guardians is the proverbial “pigeons coming home to roost” now that overt racially motivated riots are suddenly upon us with no solution on any horizon. Martin Crane New London