Other than his not being able to give any examples to substantiate his claims of the state of Michigan’s oppression toward its citizens, his opinion of students as enemies couldn’t have been any more incorrect. When I read Jeremy Frazier’s letter, Weekend’s riot not pointless, shows bad intentions of police (SN 4/8), all I was hearing was a weak argument that by showing up, the police were to blame for the riot.
If Frazier’s claim of the students being the enemy were true, then why weren’t the police throwing back the bottles and bricks being thrown at them? Do you realize those same officers also had to respond to the calls of the injured and whose vehicles and apartments were damaged?
And if you knew the use of tear gas was so imminent, why’d you have to even ask if you’d be warned? Any idiot could figure out it was their last chance to leave the area when they heard and saw flash-bang grenades. Another incorrect argument deemed Michigan as a police state. Since the last time I checked, Michigan isn’t run under a totalitarian government that has control of people’s social and political ideas, and a large reason why people are leaving in droves is because of an employment slump, including the hiring of police officers.
I want to call attention to the outstanding conduct of all police present last weekend, mostly because of the enormous restraint and professionalism shown, but also how they never ceased to serve a part of the community who ridiculed their actions to uphold the law. Don’t worry, the next time you have an emergency, your “police state” will be there to respond without fail.
Jessica Welton
criminal justice senior
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