Opinion: Police shouldn’t show restraint

Police shouldn’t show restraint

Show of hands – who wants police restraint in the face of growing crime “Chief: Body cam video shows officer’s ‘bravery and restraint,’” May 23)?

When our wonderful police are fighting crime and thugs, we, the law-abiding taxpayers, want no restraint.

Who is holding Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo to this new soft-on-crime standard?

The mayor?

Council president?

If either one or both of their families were being threatened, would they preach restraint? Of course they wouldn’t. Not on your life. They’d want the cops to come fully ready to sacrifice their lives.

They preach restraint because they think their liberal political base likes it. Oh, the base loves it because talk is cheap and it’s so sexy to sound progressively against what they like to call police excess – until, of course, some thug is assaulting or robbing them or their relatives.

The police chief knows this.

If some lunatic is out of control, we want our great cops to do whatever necessary to neutralize the threat, for our good, our children’s good, for every law-abiding citizen’s good.

The law-abiding, taxpaying public is 100 percent behind our police – if they are tough on crime.

We don’t want restraint when we are confronted by dregs.

​TED COHEN

Burlington