POLICE TAKE PRECAUTIONS

After reading the article on the tragic death of Alberto Sepulveda, all
I can feel is disgust for the family's attorney and others quoted in the
article. Why were the police there? To visit, no. They were serving a
federal felony warrant. Authorities have to assume that there will be
weapons inside the house and take precautions for their own lives.

Innocent people are being killed, not by police, but by the same type of
people that this raid allegedly was supposed to take off the street. I'm
not saying Moises Sepulveda is guilty; that will be for a court to
decide.

Police do their raids early in the morning because there is less of a
chance that people will be hurt. I have been in corrections for more
than 20 years, and the inmates we are seeing now are more violent than
ever. From what I have read, the city has been open with information. I
haven't read anything that would make me feel that the Modesto police
are stonewalling. A lot of information has come out from the chief of
police. There is also another victim in this, and that is officer David
Hawn. He must be going through his own private hell.

Dana Clark, Modesto, Jan 12