Pubdate: Sun, 27 Aug 2000
Source: Daily Gazette (NY)
Copyright: 2000 The Gazette Newspapers
Contact:  P.O. Box 1090, Schenectady, NY 12301-1090
Fax: (518) 395-3072
Website: http://www.dailygazette.com/
Author: Charles Bosworth
Note: Charles Bosworth lives in Schenectady.

STROCK HAS GONE TOO FAR WITH HIS COP-BASHING

One of the things I look forward to every day is reading my copy of The Daily Gazette, and one of the first columns I always read is The View From Here. I don't always agree with Carl Strock's opinions, but I appreciate the necessity of stimulating public discussion by his often lighthearted takes on local events.

I have to say that after reading his Aug. 22 column, "Not all is known about Schenectady cops," I was brought to what I can only describe as a classic Popeye moment: you know, "that's all I can stands; I can't stands no more." For me, this was the final straw in a series of cheap shots at the Schenectady Police Department that has been regularly passed off as journalism. Mr. Strock's sentiment that "cops and criminals are more or less of a kind" was outrage enough, but by the time I got to the end of this piece, I was disturbed and angered by the characterization of our "boys in blue" as "thuggish."

I feel compelled to respond with a viewpoint not frequently represented in this, Schenectady's only daily newspaper.

But first, let me make clear that I am not a Schenectady police officer, nor am I related by blood or marriage, or connected by close friendship. I am a city taxpayer, property owner, landlord, and longtime resident of the city's beleagured Hamilton Hill neighborhood. When you live up close and personal to the daily problems of Schenectady's inner-city streets, you acquire a perspective that you simply can't get from a daily commute between Mr. Strock's Saratoga Springs residence and the Gazette Newspaper's offices on Maxon Road. Oh yes, add to that insular routine a few power lunches at local eateries, perhaps a police ride-along, and covering a City Council meeting here and there.

In the many years I have lived in Hamilton Hill, I have seen countless incidents, arrests, drug raids, felony assaults, shootings, domestics, and traffic stops.

In other words, all kinds of situations involving police presence at all hours of the day and night.

Our Police Department is consistently professional and effective.

They respond quickly and demonstrate a great deal of restraint, given the nature of people they have to deal with. They are frequently assaulted, shot at and spit at by apprehended suspects.

I have seen it with my own eyes. In several cases in recent memory, police officers were subjected to riot and assault by groups of bystanders throwing rocks and bottles and worse.

Where was the editorial condemnation of this activity?

Over the years, I have become a big fan of the aggressive policing approach of the department. I will miss it. It has greatly cleaned up this neighborhood. If you did not live here, you would not be aware of that. One of the most joyous events in my recollection is the day the police finally closed down the Landmark Tavern on Albany Street. What a big difference that made in this section of the Hill. Police officers will undoubtedly tell you that neighbors frequently cheer when a drug house is "taken down."

Despite a rising wave of drug-dealing emigres from the New York City area, the SPD has not only held the line against inner-city crime, they have made a significant improvement in the quality of life here. They are in fact our heroes, and it disgusts me to see them disrespected by pieces like the one I read Tuesday. The progress that has been made in this community against violent crime, street crime, and quality-of-life issues has been put at risk by irresponsible columnists like Mr. Strock.

Our police officers are contributing members to this community; many do volunteer work, and all of them put their lives on the line every day they go to work to protect all of us - including those who work in our city but do not live here, Mr. Strock. Think about that. Individually, they are good people and dedicated public servants.

In contrast, drug dealers only take from the community.

Unless you lived in Hamilton Hill, Vale, Central State, and Mont Pleasant, you would really have no conception of how quickly drug dealers destroy the property they inhabit and the properties and neighborhood nearby. Being dropped off in the woods without your shoes pales in comparison to the violence, property crime and murder these drug dealers casually do without blinking an eye. Not to mention how their children are neglected.

The constant bashing of the department based on the recent indictments of two officers does a great injustice to the entire department and to this community at large.

In doing so, "limousine liberals" like Mr. Strock indirectly give legitimacy to criminals who are destroying our communities. An unspoken premise has recklessly been engendered that drug dealers in this city are helpless victims being exploited and brutalized by an out-of-control Police Department. This is a gross distortion of reality that cries out for a more balanced and informed perspective. Mr. Strock, you are confused as to who the real thugs are?

And, by the way, these two officers should be entitled - at the very least - to the same presumption of innocence that any accused person would be. Instead, they have been tried and convicted in the media. That is the real outrage.

All criminals dislike the police, and drug dealers especially despise those officers who aggressively pursue suspects.

Most drug suspects are armed, most resist arrest when apprehended, and all consider any law enforcement activity to be "police brutality." I doubt Mr. Strock has any conception of what it's like to live in an environment of constant silent intimidation like we do in some of Schenectady's inner-city neighborhoods. And that intimidation is from the drug dealers, not from the Police Department. It's a constant, low-grade terror. I am reassured by the sight of the blue-and-white patrol cars in my neighborhood, and I hope the department realizes that there are many in this city who do not buy into this cop-bashing mentality.

Mr. Strock, clean up your act. And, by the way, if you should find yourself in a situation where you need assistance, why don't you go call a drug dealer?

I'll call the Schenectady Police Department.

It's not just police officers who feel that a show of solidarity is warranted.
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