Letters: Law enforcement doing its best

I would like to respond to David Teller’s Vocal Point article in this morning’s paper (Sept. 2). I hope The Spokesman-Review will have enough objectivity to print the views of concerned citizens like myself who happen to think that our law enforcement community is doing their absolute best under terrible budgetary and public opinion constraints.

I am devastated for the Creach family and equally concerned for Deputy Hirzel and his family and colleagues. Mr. Teller appears sadly ignorant in his spewing forth about our law enforcement community. I wish he and every other “rush to judgment” blowhard could ride along on the graveyard shift with any police officer or deputy. He cannot possibly have a clue what these officers and their families face in the unknown of each day or night they protect all of us – even the citizens who are first to criticize and jump to conclusions.

Without protocols, policies, and procedures there is no safety at all. Every workplace worth its salt “investigates” an unsafe or unusual incident – and not in just a day or two. A tragedy of this magnitude should have all the time necessary to bring closure for both families and rewrite policies or procedures as needed.

I also wish he knew what it feels like to make hard decisions on how to stretch a rapidly shrinking budget while trying to adequately staff a large community’s safety needs.

Mr. Teller’s vitriol is what makes most people with common sense shake their heads in sadness. I hope he never needs the assistance of law enforcement, but if he does, they’ll be there as quickly as they possibly can.

Louanne Graham

Spokane