READER SAYS OFFICER PUT HER ON RIGHT PATH

Editor:

I always hear so many negative things about police officers. I would
like to say thank you to them. Especially Officer Beth Hartt of the
Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. Why? Because Hart helped save my life.

Officer Hartt arrested me in March of 2006, but I am very grateful to
her. She arrested me on drug charges. Hartt was hard, tough, no one
to play games with, and did her job by the book. And she lets you
know that right up front, but she was also human. She didn't treat me
like a jerk. If she had, I would have shut down and not listened to
anything she said, got out of jail and gone right back to what I was doing.

But even though she was arresting me, and doing her job, she still
treated me like a human being. She talked to me about where my life
was going and about treatment centers, and programs. And because she
treated me well while still doing her job, I did hear her. I got out
of jail, called some of the places she told me about, and went to a
90-day treatment program at First Step.

So again, thank you Officer Beth Hartt.

And thanks, from a former drug addict, to the CCSO for having
officers like her.

She's tough, no one to play with, but I feel she also wants to see
people get help.

Diana Sutton

Port Charlotte