Police ‘do the right thing and make a difference’ in their communities

To the Editor,Mr. Alaniz, in response to your editorial [column] “Heien vs. North Carolina,” I can no longer sit silently while news media perpetuates misleading information about law enforcement. It’s not so much your writing that concerns me, it’s the reader’s believing that has me responding to you today. First of all, let me be up front, I am a police officer! You cite a court ruling that allows evidence such as drugs, guns, etc... to remain admissible if the officer makes a “reasonable mistake” with regards to the initial traffic stop. You write, “no longer is reasonable suspicion necessary to pull anyone over. They can just make it up on the spot.” Mr. Alaniz, you insinuate police intentionally violate 4th Amendment rights with the knowledge we can just act “ignorant” when/if the case goes to court. You are negligent, or maybe just reasonably mistaken, to hint at such nonsense!I am not naïve to think bad or even unethical police across this great country don’t exist. The truth is the 99.9 percent of police, who set out everyday to do the right thing and make a difference in their respective communities, hate those 0.1 percent of bad police, too.Do the police push the envelope at times? Sure we do. It’s because we’ve pulled intoxicated and deceased, mothers, fathers, and teens from twisted car crashes. We’ve seen the death and destruction the influx of heroin abuse has caused to our communities.I/we don’t push the envelope, and yes sometimes make mistakes, but I/we are not hell bent on violating individual rights. We tow that line because the law violators have no rules by which to play. Lying, cheating, stealing, etc... is encouraged within the criminal community. I/we push the legal envelope in hopes that one day we might be able to get a good night’s sleep, free of haunting nightmares about dead children and overdosed mothers/fathers. Not because I don’t believe in your rights!BJ HornTecumseh