The other side of the blue line

Re “The blue you don’t see,” Opinion, Oct. 21

Robert C.J. Parry hit the nail on the head when he castigated The Times for its anti-police stance. L.A. has a lower per-capita ratio of police to citizens than most big cities, and the number of street cops who do the work of protecting the city is getting harder to maintain. This in turn leads to overworked men and women in uniform and a greater chance of tangling with the criminal element on a daily basis -- and a higher risk of getting second-guessed for doing the work the majority of their superiors can only imagine from their safe offices.

Those who suffer from cop bashing by The Times are taxpayers who have to rely on an understaffed police department that is overly cautious of political correctness run amok.

Fred Romero

Simi Valley

The writer is a retired L.A. police officer.

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Thank you, Robert C.J. Parry, for writing what many people feel about the L.A. Police Department. Readers may or may not agree but deserve to hear this side of the argument.

David N. Cook

Oxnard