Kudos, Jon Snyder!

July 30, 2020 Updated Thu., July 30, 2020 at 8:27 a.m.

Kudos to Jon Snyder, former chair of the Spokane City Council Public Safety Committee, for the clear understanding expressed in his experience-based column (June 25) “It’s time to rethink policing practices.”

He says it’s time to reimagine policing from the ground up. Agreed! For some reassurance we can look to Sir Robert Peel, who established the first full-time, professional and centrally organized police force in England and Wales in 1829. The philosophy was that “the power of the police comes from the common consent of the public, as opposed to the power of the state.”

Search for the Nine Peelian Principles. They have been issued to every new police officer since 1829.

Reading your newspaper over the years, I have become confused. Who runs the police department – the chief or the union? Fire the entire department, and rehire those who are willing to work without that union, and without qualified immunity.

Wiley Hollingsworth

Pullman

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