Reader Responses to Use of Force

I hope those who evidently felt very uncomfortable with discussions of policing in earlier editions read the conversation with Deborah Witzberg (“Use of Force,” Beyond the Gates, January-March ’21). Paradoxically, a defensive response to critique only increases the need for it.

I think we all want to congratulate Deborah Witzburg in her new role in Chicago as Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety (“Use of Force,” Beyond the Gates, January-March).

Stephanie Grace ’87 focused on the issue of police reform when interviewing Deborah and I submit that “public safety” involves a great deal more than police reform, and the events of the past year have highlighted much more than the need for police reform. As a former prosecutor, appellate judge’s clerk and defense counsel, I have viewed the criminal justice system from all sides and what is missing in this interview, as well as in the public discussion, is not the institutional culture of police departments, but the institutional culture of our schools, legislatures and news media. To use the phrase ‘cancel culture’ disturbs me, but I use it to illustrate that our society is being conditioned to have no respect for its institutions, for its history, or for its morality. So how does one expect a sane man or woman to enter police work knowing that his or her conduct in stressful and dangerous conditions will be second-guessed by everyone, especially the media?  Would you risk your life, along with your family’s future, on a split-second decision that may end your career and even land you in prison? The mass exodus of policemen from their departments is a good indication of the culture that has made police work an avenue to personal destruction. I hope that Deborah has the wisdom to understand that.