Ills Stem From Society, Not Police

* I’m responding to Mary Helen Ponce’s position on police harassment, “Learning About Police Harassment--Firsthand,” Oct. 22. Ponce has every right to question the activities of her Police Department, just as she should be conscientious as a parent to know where her children loiter. In taking an educated guess, I am inclined to believe that the number of homicides, assaults, sales of narcotics and gang presence in the Sunland Park area far outnumber the same activity in all the parks of Glendale and San Marino combined. I would also guess that the ratio of enforcement of these crimes is far less in the Sunland Park area than in the cities Ponce chose to use as an example.

Ponce’s lighthearted description of minors in possession of open alcoholic containers while driving recklessly in a vehicle as “groovy” only causes me to be more suspicious of her interpretation of the activities that took place the night of her son’s arrest. She gives the impression of being either very naive or very subjective.

As a police officer who is in his 18th year of service and is part of a law enforcement organization that developed programs such as DARE and Jeopardy, I take offense at the remarks made by Ponce. One of my many assignments included being the community relations officer in an inner-city area in which I’ve addressed Ponce’s same concerns with many people.

I would agree with Ponce that people in inner-city areas are treated differently from those in outlying suburban areas, but it is not because they are white or minority. It is because the true victim is the lower-middle income earning, law-abiding citizen who has no other choice but to live in the areas where criminal activity is so prevalent. There isn’t an officer who goes to work each day who doesn’t shake his head at the conditions these people have to tolerate day in and day out. We try to create an environment that permits people to cross the street without being run over by those who are intoxicated and that permits our children and elderly to go into our parks without being assaulted and approached by gang members and drug dealers . . . just like in San Marino and Glendale.

My recommendation to Ponce is to call her police station when she has a concern or a question. But keep in mind, the police are not the cause of our social woes, society is. And until our intellectuals and politicians start to address the real problems--and not just the loudest voice--we are not going to accomplish a thing. I find it ironic that lawyers, politicians and activists who have difficulty correcting the deficiencies within their own profession want such a strong hand in the changing and running of the Police Department. It seems that the only people who don’t have a say as to how the Police Department is run are those of us who have given our lives in doing it.

GERRY SOLA

Sola is a sergeant with the LAPD assigned to the narcotics canine squad.