Letters: Aug. 2, 1968

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Behind the Badge

Sir: As one of the newest policemen in the St. Louis police department, I read with extreme interest your article "Police: The Thin Blue Line " [July 19]. You noted with accuracy that one of the basic needs of metropolitan departments is better-educated officers. Most metropolitan departments do little if any recruiting on a college level because they are convinced they have nothing to offer the graduate.

As a recent graduate of St. Louis University, I beg to differ. Analyze what today's graduate is looking for in a career. If his education has weaned him away from the ideal of "self" and toward the ideal of "awareness and contribution" as regards the problems of society, the graduate is looking for a career in which he can commit himself to help solve these problems. Police work will give him that chance. Law-enforcement executives and college placement bureaus should plan programs toward this goal. Perhaps then the two poles of "cop" and "professional" can be reconciled.

Louis STEPHENS

Probationary Patrolman

St. Louis

Sir: I am now in Viet Nam, but while I was at home on leave, I myself noticed a change for the better in the police force of Los Angeles. Being a Negro, and part of this younger generation, I wish to say to Chief Reddin that we are watching closely. It is good to know that the residents of Los Angeles now have someone in the police chief's office who gives a damn.

(SP/4) EDWARD D. LEE JR.

U.S.A.

A.P.O., San Francisco

Sir: I would just like to add a brief comment to your fine account of the improved public relations efforts of the Los Angeles Police Department:

When my high school government class was visited last year by a young police officer, I looked with skepticism on the idea of his communicating anything to a group of intelligent, liberal-minded, middle-class students. But after the first awkward exchanges, my initial impression softened, for here was no hardened, authoritarian, put-'em-in-their-place cop but rather someone who thought, acted, and talked on our level. We fell into easy discussion and learned not only what he did as a cop but also why he was doing it and how it felt to be doing it—that he was sometimes scared.

If it is important for ghetto children to understand and respect the police, it is just as essential that we whom adults are fond of calling "leaders of tomorrow" also gain insight into the fact that policemen are human beings. I think I get the message.

GIGI DOTY

Studio City, Calif.

Sir: I take offense at your statement "Without question, New York City police used extreme, sometimes brutal tactics ... at Columbia University." These "brutal tactics" you refer to caused one police sergeant to be hospitalized after students stomped on his chest. Another officer was hospitalized after a student jumped on his back—from a second-story window. This officer is now virtually paralyzed —unable to sit or stand without excruciating pain. These policemen were just doing their jobs—and without nightsticks, I might add.

JOHN MOSCHETTO

Patrolman

New York City