Editor,
I am extremely dismayed by the April 17 letter to the editor and its uneducated bashing of Albuquerque Police Officer Tom Sholtis. The claims made are incorrect and unjust.
First, if APD was to "clean house" of all officers who have ever been sued or cost the city money, half of the city's police force would be out of a job and the streets of Albuquerque would be without police. Think about that.
Second, his own department, if anything, has betrayed Sholtis. Perhaps the author is unaware of the problems APD officers face with data systems that work intermittently and are outdated. I ride along with the APD and have seen this happen on more occasions than I care to recount.
It is a serious issue causing problems on the streets of Albuquerque. The APD was also gracious enough to destroy many pieces of evidence pertaining to the case including his belt recorder tapes. Yes, ironically, the officer who testified against Sholtis was a relative of the plaintiff. Am I alone in thinking that somewhere along the line, Sholtis was betrayed? There are simply too many questionable facts related to this case to call Officer Sholtis a "schoolyard bully."
Thirdly, how dare call the Albuquerque Police Department "as bad as the crooks?" Let me challenge anyone who has a skewed perspective of our law enforcement department to contact any APD officer and ask him or her about riding along with them on their shift.
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I guarantee you that after one 10 hour shift on the streets of Albuquerque - in the "War Zone" or similar neighborhoods - of going with them to the stabbings, to the drug busts and to everything else that goes down on any given day here in the city of Albuquerque, your perspective of law enforcement and the Albuquerque Police Department will change.
Finally, I encourage everyone in the UNM community to support your local law enforcement officers. They have not received a pay raise in two years and are not looking for a raise for two more years. This is criminal.
By the way, the raise two years ago for many was a whole two cents, moving some officers into a higher tax bracket giving them even less take home pay.
They are among the city's bravest, they serve you and they deserve your respect.
Jeremy Benbrooks
UNM student
