Police Behavior

Pam Ratti’s letter (Harassment, Sept. 28) may have sounded to some readers like liberal whining left over from the 1970s, but the letter was timely for me because just two days before I, too, underwent an embarrassing, frightening and offensive experience which began with being pulled over and not told why. This occurred with my 3-year-old daughter in the car. This letter is not to rehash the incident, but merely to point out that, at least to the Verdugo Hills CHP station, it is the number of complaints rather than the nature of them that prompts any action.

It may be that the station commander might have had a different view of the matter, but I was not allowed to talk to him on the phone, and I was strongly discouraged from coming to the station in person. The sergeant who did take my complaint made it clear that each California Highway Patrol officer is allowed one “free ride” when it comes to making profane or degrading remarks or not following proper procedure. If a “peace” officer denies any citizen his rights, I urge you to make a complaint loud and clear. Sooner or later it will be the one that counts.

KATHRYN BUTTACCIO

Lancaster