It's been embarrassing watching Baltimore being made a national example in the news media over the way our police department operates with reckless abandon ("Z on TV: City leaders can't blame the media for image-crushing DOJ report," Aug. 10).
Unfortunately police-bashing is fashionable as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.
It is time someone speaks up about how this situation developed. Baltimore has an above average-sized drug population. The pushers have drugged up a higher percentage of our population than the average city. This means the biggest employers of young black men are the drug lords. It also means there are more street gangs than in most cities. And if that weren't bad enough the users of their products have to resort to lower-level crimes to support their habits.
This has created the situation where innocent citizens get killed by stray bullets as drug dealers and street gangs constantly compete for turf. It means innocent citizens get chosen at random to be killed as part of gang initiations. It means key witnesses get killed even when under police protection. It means a larger corruption factor in the police ranks as key evidence just vanishes. It means the criminal element is so bold that it publishes its own threat videos.
Many older people recognize Eliot Ness as a police hero who in a previous era helped rid society of some of its worst criminals. Could you imagine him having the success he had then if all of his men had to wear video cameras and everyone on the street had a phone that took pictures?
Instead of piling on and targeting the people trying to protect us, try to understand where their behavior is coming from.
Steven Davidson, New Windsor