SOARES' COMMENTS ON DRUG LAWS ARE HYPOCRITICAL

Your May 5 editorial addressing the comments made by Albany County
District Attorney David Soares completely missed the point of law
enforcement's ire. As both an Albany County Democrat and a retired
police officer, I believe I understand the issues here.

It's not strictly politics. It's about the hypocrisy of the
statements of an inexperienced and arrogant young district attorney.
I don't believe his statements are anything other than self-serving.
His blatant attempt at pandering to the liberal vote is more for
personal political gain than helping the less fortunate than he.

The hypocrisy is that he is at the top of the prosecutorial salary
food chain in upstate New York, not like the street cops in Albany
County whose salaries are, in most cases, less than half that of
Soares himself.

Further angering police is the fact that, just like Soares, all
police officers take an oath to enforce the laws of the state
regardless of their personal opinion. Most insulting to police is
that many officers are permanently injured or killed every year
responding to the call of duty enforcing these laws. The statements
by Soares flies in the face his oath and of the oaths taken so
seriously by officers.

The drug laws may indeed need to be updated; however, that is not for
the district attorney to do personally. In order for the criminal
justice system to work, it must be balanced.

The police and district attorney's office need to be strong,
aggressive and united. The defense attorneys need to be aggressive
and tireless advocates for the accused. The Legislature needs to
provide honest and balanced laws that reflect contemporary community standards.

Andrew VanWagenen

Loudonville