Let police do their job

THE EDITOR: I saw a video on social media of a farmer who became very irate because the police were giving him a ticket for an unsecured empty bucket in the tray of his van.

I was amused at how angry that farmer was and thought nothing about it. But, low and behold, about two days later I read in the newspapers that a politician slammed the police for doing their job, which made me want to comment on this situation.

In my view, that politician should know better than that. So what exactly is he trying to say? That the police should ignore small infractions of the law because we have a lot of murders and gun-toting bandits on the loose?

The politician said, “It is an outrage and blatant abuse of office.” How so, Mr Politician? Let's suppose that that driver was driving down the road and that unsecured bucket managed to fly out of the tray and smash a car's windscreen. What do you think would have taken place?

It could have caused a major accident in which people could have died. And then it comes out that the farmer was stopped by the police and allowed to leave with his unsecured load. I wonder what would you, Mr Politician, would have said then? That the police were not doing their job and that accident could have been avoided?

While it's true that there is a whole heap of murders in the country these days, while it's true that there are a lot of guns in young people's hands, it is no excuse to ignore small infractions of the law or minor crimes.

What would be next? Ignoring housebreaking and larceny because there are too many murders? Or maybe Mr Politician thinks the police should ignore the “10 ball” of cocaine in a piper’s pocket because there are a lot of guns on the street.

Or maybe he wants the entire police force, all divisions, to be involved in homicide investigations. The traffic cops, the larceny squad, the drug enforcement agencies, even the rape squad (special victims), all must focus on solving murders.

I see his comments as trying to score political points by siding with the farmer and bumping his gum when he has nothing else to say. Those comments are an outrage and blatant abuse of office. My advice to Mr Politician is to focus on the real issues of this country and I can name a few.

And to the farmer, take the ticket because you had an unsecured load in your van that had the potential to cause a major accident. Just pay the fine and secure all your loads from now on – because lesson is learned.

The law is the law and we can't just ignore some laws because other more serious crimes are being committed.

KEITH A STEPHEN

via e-mail