Opinion : Letter to the Editor: Threat to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I am having a hard time with the statements made by a Marion police officer about threats (during a TV story which included an interview with VT editor). Did he mean that the police officers decide if the threat is credible? If the threat was said in the heat of the moment? If the person that made the threat is sorry that they did? (More than likely if a police officer is asking if they meant it-the answer will be NO!)

I was arrested for telling a police officer "I'm not going to let you take my truck!" That was said in the heat of the moment. Obviously I'm not big enough to stop a tow truck! Was that a credible threat? Well, it was credible enough to get me to jail!

If an officer gets to decide, I think that gives the officer too much discretion, I believe it should be illegal for anyone to threaten to shoot another person, especially if the person that was threatened feels THREATENED! Arrest them for the threat and let them prove that it was a joke or whatever! Leaving it up to an officer or just one person leaves too much room for arbitrary prosecution. "Good ole boy" effect!

Justice is supposed to be blind. Police officers are code enforcers, either it is illegal or unlawful or it isn't. They should not get to decide who gets a free pass or who gets arrested. Especially when it involves local government. The Patrol cars say "To serve and protect" - The Supreme court says that the police have no duty or obligation to serve or protect any given citizen, they protect the community! The "community" is a corporation. A corporation run by our local government.

Can't even say they are "code enforcers"! My experience has been the officers being directed by another City Employee on what action they were to carry out, even if the action did not follow a code. So do I want them to decide if a threat is credible? Heck NO!!

That is what a jury of your peers is for.

Tim & Jane Osborn