To the editor:
As I write a response to the March 5 letter to the editor over the Blue Lives Matter flag, I am reminded through the website odmp.org that two officers have been murdered since the letter was submitted. Twenty-one additional officers have been killed in the line of duty since the first of the year, with a projection of another 130 officers who are alive today who will not be here by Jan. 1, 2020.
Of course, the author mentions that “crimes against law enforcement are trending downward.” Try explaining that to the families of law enforcement officers who are dead. Try being a family member (as my wife did on many occasions in my 29 years of full-time law enforcement) and getting that phone call in the middle of the night from a shift supervisor telling her that I was at the hospital receiving medical treatment for a battery that I was the victim of.
The writer’s initial premise that Trevon Martin did nothing to justify his death was and is wrong. Martin was beating Zimmerman’s head into the concrete. Zimmerman discharged his legally obtained and carried firearm. As you are well aware, Zimmerman was found not guilty by a state jury and a federal investigation showed no federal law violations.
In the meantime, this article might help you and others understand their rights when it comes to self defense. Remember, there is no separate law for police officers: courierpress.com/story/news/local/2018/09/21/5-things-know-your-right-self-defense-indiana/1380169002.
Without going into a great amount of detail, I ask the following questions that she has given opinions on:
Who in the Blue Lives Matter founding is a racist? How can she prove that, or is she just making that up?
She talks of “driving while black.” Can she give me statistics that back up your premise? The FBI does not have statistics to correlate that hypothesis. Have you ever conducted a vehicle stop at night? How many? What were the lighting conditions like when you made the stops and did you know the race of the violator when you stopped the vehicle? Here is a game you can play the next time you’re driving: When you travel at night on 135 or 65, tell me the race of the driver of every vehicle that you encounter, including those going in the opposite direction. Can’t do it? Well-established court decisions have stated that officers need probable cause or a reasonable suspicion to make vehicle stops.
There are many in the United States who view the U.S. flag as one of oppression and hatred over past overseas conflicts, starting with the conflicts in Asia in the early 1900s to the ongoing and never-ending wars in the Mideast today. While you may view the Indiana flag as a beacon, I remember my history when Indiana was run by the Klan. Since the past history of those flags has oppression in them, please join with me and demand that those flags not be flown over our public buildings.
This letter was full of drama and few facts. Police work is a dangerous and dirty business. If there is an organization that dares to promote law enforcement, then so be it. If the NPD wants to show that flag where literally very few people can actually see it, then let them.
Mark C. Medlyn, Nashville
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