Letters to the Editor

What You Say

NECESSARY FORCE

Police officers are permitted to punch/kick/choke/stab/strangle/and/or use deadly force to overcome the level of resistance being faced [Naked City, "See No Evil," Andrew Thompson, April 1]. I'm assuming that the comments regarding the infamous "baby shower" arrest came from the complaint against the city, which was probably filled with lawyer-ese and asked for a settlement of $50,000.

I cannot answer for the alleged actions of some officers; I can only speak from experience and ask you: Have you ever been present in a hostile neighborhood when attempting to arrest someone for any offense, no matter how trivial? Every neighbor, cousin, nephew, friend, stepson and their brother come out of the woodwork to complain that, "You got the wrong guy." We get no help from the residents of their own neighborhoods, as evidenced by the resistance and bad press we received for removing a dangerous armed felon from the streets of Germantown in the past week.

Aside from one officer's alleged behavior, how many of these complaints of physical abuse — "a 20 percent increase in a single year" — were actually founded? Police are allowed to use force in making arrests. Just because the person being arrested didn't agree with how they were taken into custody, how they were handcuffed too tightly or how their arm was twisted, does not indict an entire municipal police department of misconduct, including the commissioner.

I once asked a [SEPTA employee] working the ticket booth at Market East what he does if a transgender person asks to buy a TransPass [A Million Stories, "Annals of Bureaucracy," April 8]. How does he negotiate the Male/Female sticker issue? His response was to ask the individual purchasing the TransPass, "Is this for a man or a woman?" Problem solved (sort of).

Awesome story [Naked City, "Walk On," Eric Pettersson, April 8]. My dad biked across country in his younger years and its something I've wanted to do ever since. Good luck to Gallagher! Sounds amazing!