MUCH ADO OVER SCH'DY'S POLICE SCANDAL

I wonder if I'm the only one in Schenectady who cares that some of our
police officers - who risk their lives to protect us - are being thrown to
the wolves for doing their job.

What is their job? To protect our city from crime by finding and arresting
the "bad guys." How do they find the "bad guys"? One way is to use
informants - people who sell information about who, what and where the "bad
guys" are. Why do informants sell this information? Because they receive
payment.

Herein lies the crux of the investigation: the form of the payment. If a
police officer pays money to an informant for information about "bad guys,"
that's apparently OK. If the informant takes that money and buys drugs, he
does so at his own risk. But if a police officer uses confiscated drugs,
instead of money, to pay an informant, he (the police officer) has
committed a crime. This approach, taken by the feds with the approval of
our city administration, is very wrong.

If the charges are true, this practice should stop. No matter how noble the
cause, drugs should not be dispensed by police officers - even to people
who obtain it by other means on a regular basis. But the punishment should
fit the crime.

Departmental regulations may have been broken, albeit with worthy
intentions. But prison terms are a case of extreme overkill.

Why is the police chief, who supervises these police officers on a daily
basis, without guilt - if there is guilt? And don't forget the mayor, the
"boss of the city" except when something goes wrong.

I don't know whether the police officers under investigation are innocent
or guilty. I do know that a police officer should not be sent to jail for
actions aimed at making our city and our people safer by arresting "bad guys."

Dan Ertel

Schenectady