Police Need Courage in the Line of Duty

If Sgt. Scott Anderson of the Maywood Police Department (letter, June 20) -- or any other police officer -- thinks that the fatal shooting of a mentally disturbed, tiny woman armed with a screwdriver is justified, perhaps he should consider a different line of work. Cops are paid to be warriors, the “new centurions.” We taxpayers expect a certain level of bravery from them.

It has been 49 years since I had basic training as a 19-year-old Army draftee, but if I had a truncheon and couldn’t neutralize a woman with a mere screwdriver without shooting her, I would be the laughingstock of every red-blooded American male I know.

P.H. Krapf

Valencia