All cops are not the problem. Racist cops are the problem. Get rid of the racist cops and replenish the police budget to where it needs to be, whatever that might be — not what the mob wants it to be. Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS).
Then recruiting won’t be a problem, except the racists might not bother to show up for an interview if they know they are going to be kicked out once they are discovered.
— Ed Rothberg
Weaverville
We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we’ve never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.
We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.
6 thoughts on “Letter: First, get rid of racist cops”
Just curious; how do you determine if a law enforcement officer meets your definition of being a racist or not? Further, since hiring will be and is necessary, how do you determine an applicant meets the requirements?
The answers to these questions may help in attracting much needed quality candidates, so that they will know in advance if they qualify.
Forget “racist cops” those are indistinguishable; hire EDUCATED COP! too many ignorant highschool country YOKALS
Here’s an interesting self-test for racial bias: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/featuredtask.html
The letter itself is racist.
Which was my point, although cleverly disguised.
People often talk about “bad apples” without remembering “spoils the barrel.” That’s a side issue. It doesn’t require “racist cops” to create a situation where you’re ticketing broken tail lights in Shiloh but not Beaver Lake because that’s where you run patrols and you mainly see communities from behind a windshield.
Municipalities should decide what kind of policing they want and fund it. That’s not the same as funding cops.