Fitzgerald letter: Police shootings
The guest opinion written by Kathy Griesmyer Nov. 18 was very strange. She shotguns all police departments in the state by implication. She mentions one shooting, that of a woman assaulting two officers with a knife, and seems to be surprised that they shot her five times. A competent shot can easily get off three shots a second. She mentions a man who dies after a scuffle with police. Well, this is not unusual, even young people die after shoveling snow. That thing in police holsters is a gun. It is their go-to item when they are physically threatened. It will not be replaced anytime soon by a laser, phaser, taser or your favorite color of silly string. Do what the police tell you and you will not have any problems. If you feel they told you to do something wrong, there are any number of lawyers eager to sue for you. If you feel you have to write an opinion critical of police, at least name the items in investigations with which you disagree. If the writer can come up with some factual objections, she might move into reality.
Terry Fitzgerald, Boise
This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Fitzgerald letter: Police shootings."