Letter to the Editor

I submitted the following to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, concerning a series of incidents in my old neighborhood.

The Rochester Police Department is recklessly endangering its members' safety. After the unfortunate arrest of Emily Good, the RPD could have apologized and used the incident to reach out humbly to 19th Ward neighbors. Instead, the men in blue feel slighted, and retaliated against their critics by selectively ticketing Good's supporters for obscure parking violations. In addition, Good was the victim of a Thursday break-in that appears politically motivated. Officer Mario Masic arrested Good because he felt unsafe with her around: he should feel unsafe without her around. Tips from residents who care about their communities and cooperation from witnesses to crimes are crucial to putting real malefactors behind bars. Police arrogance like this will make tipsters and witnesses more reluctant to cooperate, and leave the real criminals free to strike again. What is more important to police safety: upholding their pride or building relationships?

A smaller point is that Good was also proved wrong by the incident. She suspected that Rochester's finest are racist in profiling suspects. But they proved quite equitable in casting unfair suspicion on a petite white woman! Officer Masic may be a fool or he may be scared sh*tless of working the Ward, but he's no racist.