Criminals’ rights secondary

Regarding your editorial “Police work takes major public trust,” (March 7): I raised two teenagers, a foster teenager and have four teenage grandchildren. I have made it clear to all of them that when they break the law, or put themselves in a position of alleged criminal actions, that their rights become secondary to the safety and well being of the public and the police involved in the arrest.

Teenagers have an age window where if they are involved in criminal activity they are given the benefit of the doubt with the hope they have learned a lesson. At that point it should be the responsibility of the parent to make that clear to them and ensure the public that they will not repeat the offense.

I am relatively sure the clip of the tape was taken out of context and that the two girls who allegedly stole a car had not cooperated from the time of the arrest. They did not arrest this girl for spitting on the sidewalk…she allegedly stole a vehicle. Instead of taking responsibility for her alleged crime, she had a tantrum and was completely out of control. Possibly this was the only time she had been disciplined for her actions, and unfortunately we put our teachers and law enforcement officers in the position of having to do that job. If the clip appeared to be harsh, I am sure viewing the video as a whole would prove otherwise…kicking and biting the officers and for sure not cooperating.

A few years ago, I observed teenagers at a house near my home with handguns. I observed them for a few days and then drove to the house to get a house number to contact the sheriff. As I drove up the driveway, eight teenagers came out of the houses and surrounded my car. I wrote down the house number and left with the teenagers following me in a truck. As luck would have it, we approached two sheriff deputies on motorcycles watching for speeders, and the truck turned around and left. I explained the situation to the deputies.

My foster teenager had already been involved with the law, and during the time he lived here, I was threatened, robbed, my car stolen, answered the door during the night and encountering people with guns, looking for him regarding drugs and money he had taken. I had a knife put to my throat by the foster teenager and was constantly in fear of being stopped because of him and the police confiscating my home and car because he had drugs with him I didn’t know about.

I would suggest you watch real reality shows like COPS or go spend a day at juvenile court before you defend the treatment of an alleged criminal by the police. Teenagers are surely capable of robbing, raping, beating, stabbing, shooting, stealing cars, carjacking, using and selling drugs, abusing alcohol, and killing people.

Using phrases like “I swear to God I didn’t do it” and “I swear on my Mama I didn’t do it,” and when arrested, crying and saying “I just want to go home” or “I want my mother” shows the reality of the lack of understanding these teenagers have of how the system works.

You have teenagers at home and my hope is that they will be, as most teenagers are, responsible, honest, law-abiding citizens. But also understand there are teenagers who are not and they must accept the consequences of their actions. Until you experience or observe the violence and complete disregard of the law these teenage criminals are capable of, please consider your misguided conclusions regarding the treatment of these criminals by law enforcement. There are good/bad teenagers, and there are good/bad law officers, but I for one, having seen what teenagers are capable of, put my faith in the law-enforcement officers who are out there protecting all of us.

Patricia Horn

Auburn