Look at police shootings long overdue
To the editor:
In response to your series on fatal police shootings:
It’s about time, and I must say I’m very pleased to see the hometown newspaper doing this long overdue series about police use of deadly force.
In the introduction, you state you are going to look at what can be done differently to curb the use of deadly force. My opinion: There is only one way to best protect citizens as well as police: All patrol officers must wear head-mounted video cameras. It’s the future for sure, but the technology is available now — and Las Vegas needs it now.
I hope you discuss police opposition to these cameras. Thank you for what appears to be probably the most important series I’ve read in years.
James Cole
Las Vegas
Bad guys
To the editor:
While reading your Sunday special report about police shootings, I came to one conclusion: Most of the shootings chronicled involved suspects pointing a gun or rushing at police with a dangerous weapon. If you, as a suspect, do this, you will be met with gunfire.
I feel the modern era of MTV and “gangsta” ilk is why this article ended up in the Review-Journal. The “question any and all authority and resist it” attitude can be deadly.
The moral of this story: Don’t point guns at police or come at them with weapons. You will end up dead and the police officer’s whole day (or life) will be ruined. Bad guys will lose.
Todd Wheelan
North Las Vegas
The Nevada fix
To the editor:
In response to your Friday editorial, “City attorney search”: As soon as Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen took the call, Sen. Harry Reid’s son had the job. Dumbing down the requirements for the job? No problem. I think this is referred to as the Nevada political fix, a common event here.
The Los Angeles Times a few years ago ran a series about Sen. Reid. As I remember, one article wrote about the access the senator’s lawyer/lobbyist sons and son in law had in and out of his office.
The sign on the door should read: Henderson city attorney, Harry Reid’s son.
McRae Hamblin
Las Vegas
Obvious conflict
To the editor:
Kudos for your Friday editorial regarding the process to fill the city attorney’s post in Henderson. It takes considerable intestinal fortitude and journalistic integrity to stand in opposition to the will of Sen. Harry Reid.
Having recently read “Harry: Money, Mob and Influence in Harry Reid’s Nevada” by Daxton Brown, I can see a consistency in M.O. that seems to apply to the imminent appointment of the new Henderson city attorney.
Without naming names, if it moves or shakes in Nevada, as surely as there is a four-lane highway to Searchlight, it owes Sen. Reid a favor. And, make no mistake, Sen. Reid will collect.
It’s clear that Sen. Reid’s son, Josh, did not meet the published qualifications for the position of city attorney in Henderson. A few phone calls later, the city of Henderson changed the requirements of the position to fit Josh Reid’s comparatively thin resume.
Now, Mayor Andy Hafen and his colleagues on the Henderson City Council get to select a new city attorney. The interim city attorney is highly qualified. Josh Reid is not.
Mayor Andy Hafen’s daughter received a salary from Sen. Reid for eight years. You think the mayor’s phone wasn’t ringing to cash in the favor?
The very least Mayor Hafen should do is abstain from voting on the appointment. He has an obvious conflict of interest that has been cited in the press. Were he to cast a vote for Josh Reid, he would forfeit all integrity.
Ronnie Garner
Henderson