Crackdown on Day Laborers
* Re “Mounted Patrol Used in Crackdown,” June 14.
I am amazed and deeply disturbed. I had to read the story several times to be sure that it said “11 officers.”
No thoughtful person can object to proper police response to crime or public nuisance. But is [Councilwoman Laura] Chick’s “strong message to the community” and the heavy police response appropriate to this situation? The “friendly, benign unit, not . . . meant to intimidate” certainly had that effect.
The accompanying photo showed an officer searching a young man who had been cited for jaywalking. Does jaywalking justify searching the jaywalker? Or was there some presumption of other guilt because he was a day laborer?
Disbursing the group solves the community problem but does not deal with the root cause. It punishes the person who is honestly seeking work for the actions of those breaking the law. Would it not be worthwhile to encourage the area’s nongovernmental human service providers to provide a person to work with the people at major day laborer sites, making our laws clear, encouraging appropriate behavior and an orderly approach to potential employers?
CLIF CARTLAND
North Hills
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