Wants local cops to shape up




When I was growing up I wanted to be a cop because I thought I could be helpful. It didn’t turn out that way. 

Having moved from the Midwest in 2001 I immediately saw a huge difference in police personnel attitudes here in California. Not all cops have a foul attitude, but the majority that I have witnessed in our community do. They don’t seem to want to help the public; their agenda instead is to “punish the community.” I’m personally told by a local sheriff that they are directed to write as many tickets as possible by their superiors, no matter how minor the infraction. “Generate that revenue” is what they are ordered to do. 

While we don’t have an overabundance of serious crime in our community like others, it would be nice if the police actually behaved and performed in a community-friendly manner for which they were hired. Protection is the name of the game. 

Our community has seen a rise in vandalism and burglaries. It would be nice if the police concentrated on preventing these crimes instead of sitting at the Starbucks on Kanan looking for expired tags on parked car license plates or issuing tickets to vulnerable kids that stop but don’t count to three at a stop sign. There is no three-count rule in the DMV book, by the way. 

It’s obvious that the only way to secure their jobs is to increase cash flow by targeting the soccer moms, unsuspecting kids and the public in general with questionable ticket-writing tactics. 

If you really break the rules, I have no sympathy for you. But whatever happened to a cop stopping someone and warning them instead of the ready-to-writeyou-up cop? What about the cop stopping you to say you are driving really well and perhaps handing out a local restaurant coupon for a burger at McDonald’s? The residents of this community wouldn’t know what to do if they received a compliment from a cop. It sure would change attitudes and make crime fighting easier.

It seems our police department’s priorities are all screwed up, and I, for one, am sick of it. 
Marc Weisman  

Oak Park




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