Cases Tainted in LAPD Scandal

I must take issue with Erwin Chemerinsky when he says that “nothing is more abhorrent . . . than innocent people being imprisoned because of police officers lying and planting evidence” (Commentary, Dec. 16). Much more abhorrent is the thought of innocent people being executed as a result of police and prosecutorial misconduct. And a close second on the abhorrence scale is the utter and absolute silence from our elected officials on this latest scandal in the Los Angeles Police Department.

So strong is the pull of police and prison guard unions and so pervasive is the fear that candidates who dare speak out on this issue will be labeled “soft on crime” that any debate on this subject in the upcoming election campaigns will be faint indeed. Only the voters (and the nonvoters) can change this attitude, by treating with healthy skepticism every political advertisement that touts a candidate as “tough on crime.”

JAMES CAVUOTO

Torrance

*

After reading about one incident of police shooting and framing an innocent person, then a few cases, then probably hundreds, then possibly thousands, it occurs to me that our nation needs a new law: If any person knowingly falsely accuses or frames anybody of a crime, the guilty party should serve the same sentence that the accused would serve. These scandals are nightmares that our society cannot afford.

GEORGE RUBIO

Torrance