Tattoos on Sheriff’s Deputies

I read “The Secret Society Among Lawmen” (March 24) with interest. I am a law enforcement supervisor with 23 years on the job and still working “the street.” I think I am probably more in touch with young line officers than the senior management quoted. In your article tattoos are given a sinister meaning that is out of touch with today’s realities. Using the presence of tattooing by young deputies as evidence of secret societies without more explanation about tattoos is unfair.

I supervise young police officers and notice that many of them, as well as many young adults, have tattoos. In my 44-year-old mind, tattoos are evidence of foolish, drunken behavior or antisocial tendencies. Unfortunately, this paradigm doesn’t work anymore--tattoos are as common as shirts with little feet embroidered on the pocket were when I was young.

Truly, I don’t like tattoos and probably never will. But they are common expressions of fashion and acceptance today for a different generation.

CHRIS KELLER

West Covina

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How can our society expect young people to stay out of gangs when our law enforcement officers are themselves members of gangs? I would consider police gangs to be considerably more dangerous to the public than street gangs, because their activities are protected from the laws which are used to control street gangs. Until the proper authority, be it the state attorney general’s office, the FBI or the Justice Department, deals with the problems of unreasonable and oppressive police activity in all law enforcement agencies, the public will continue to lose its trust in the government and its agents.

ROBERT WEIDE

Santa Barbara