What accountability?

Re: “How fired police return to the streets,” Front Page, June 21:

A heartfelt thanks to Brian Chasnoff for his outstanding, informative article in last Sunday’s paper.

I was shocked when reading earlier that Derek Chauvin, the cop who killed George Floyd, had been disciplined 17 times prior to Floyd’s death. Who gets 17 chances? Why was this man still on the force? Would a schoolteacher receive 17 chances if racial slurs or physical abuse were used in his or her classroom? Not a chance!

Chasnoff ’s article clearly makes the point that policemen are returned to the streets due to the power of arbitrators the police union selects. A discipline report written more than six months prior to an incident cannot be utilized. What sense does that make? Would 17 second chances or the inability to use someone’s complete disciplinary report ever be acceptable in any other profession? It should not be acceptable in any profession, especially in one that should be specialized in saving lives.

As they shouted in protests recently, “We need police to be guardians, not warriors.” Let’s look at changing the police union’s contract to be more fair and just to the residents of our community. ruling class, “was probably the most affluent titled aristocracy in the Americas from 1529 to 1821.” About 80 families received titles such as count and countess for their services to the Spanish kings. Their descendants still comprise the most powerful and wealthy class in Mexico. These families owned vast ranching empires. The Sanchez-Navarro Empire of haciendas, called a latifundio, covered most of the state of Coahuila. It has been said that The XIT and King ranches in Texas could fit within its boundaries with space left over.

We suffer today from a pervasive literacy problem, which puts the United States far down in the world in quality of life. If parents and educators would encourage students to read books, we might find out the truth of our history, sadly neglected by our propaganda-prone, entertainment-leaning media. Gilead soon made the drug available to the uninsured but continued to charge the outrageous price to insurers, and made billions from Medicare and Medicaid.