The Enterprise opinion pages are an open forum for our community. We encourage readers to express their thoughts about issues that appear in this newspaper or affect the community. Letters should be brief (with an outside limit of 1,000 words) and must include the writer's address, name, and phone number for verification. The editor may reject letters that have been printed elsewhere. Letters concerning elections will be cut off one issue before the election at the editor's discretion. No unsigned letters will be published. The deadline for letters is Tuesday at noon.
To the Editor:
To suggest that how an arrest is handled is distinct and separate from whether there should be a village police force is to ignore the reason many desire a small-town police department with more full-time officers in the first place. [For the full story, go online to www.AltamontEnterprise.com for Jan. 24, 2013 “Motorist charged with misdemeanor: APD excessive.” An editorial ran last week, Jan. 31, “Too much of a good thing?”] If the police have the discretion to allow an individual 24 hours to provide proof of insurance or to shackle her, place her car on a tow truck, and deliver her child to protective services then how residents, at least, are treated has a great deal to do with a discussion of the village police and its value to the community.
I suspect Mrs. Kowalski was as concerned about neighbors and acquaintances seeing her being placed in a police car as she was about the variety of effects this event was having on her son. Being in the back of a police car is humiliating enough, and what if she had been shackled, placed in a police car, and her son taken away?
What would you think if you happened to see that scene as you drove home? Would you consider that the offense might be a late car insurance payment that she had already made? Would you tell your friends? What would you think of her if you met her at a village or school function and the only thing you knew of her was that she had been arrested?
The legitimate use of force in a democracy is by the authority of the people and thus should express their values. We have a great opportunity in this little community to speak to each other through village government and through The Enterprise and to bear witness to such events on a small scale.
Thank you to The Enterprise for your comprehensive reporting and the opportunity to express these opinions.
Anne Faulkner
Altamont
Editor’s note: The New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law makes no mention of police having the discretion to allow 24 hours for a motorist to provide proof of insurance before arresting, it is not an option.
See related story.