Northeast News
July 13, 2016

Dear Editor,

Does anyone else wonder what things will be like in a decade or so, when no one wants to be a police officer? I never wanted to be one because I don’t like to run. I always thought of the police chasing the bad guys on foot, and…..decided I didn’t want to do that.

But there are a lot of children, not to mention the adults who are already good police officers, who don’t want to be police officers anymore because they know that they might be killed just because people are mad at other officers; or they might think the whole country doesn’t like police officers anymore, so why do it? Who will want to go into this line of work in the future, with people now killing officers because they’re mad at other officers?

No one will want to risk their life, especially to do something that the whole country is putting such a negative spin on. It will be even worse, because we live in a society that is quick to judge. A new sensational story is being shared every week, one that seems to unite the whole country, and forget a trial – everyone makes up their mind before they know the facts…and although I hope that we can change this mindset, it only seems to be getting worse.

So we will be living in a society where no one wants to be a police officer, but everyone is quick to serve their own type of justice without a trial. There was the dentist who shot the lion, and the reporter that yelled at the towing station worker, and a lot of others. So don’t think that you yourself might not be unexpectedly caught in a video or a post that is offensive to someone, and the whole country might see it before the day is over. When the whole country is seeking its internet justice, I fear there will be very few police officers around to stop it. And that is a very scary thought.

The media needs to stop sensationalizing certain types of stories, because I know that not all stories get shared equally, but our society needs to stop judging so quickly…there is a reason people get a trial – but no one seems to think a trial is necessary anymore.

Chris Andrews

Historic Northeast resident